Holy War of the strongest servant!
by Flagarach
Summary: Hercules, the strongest servant? Doubtful, according to the real strongest! So what better way to prove your superior strength then by getting summoned in the Grail War as a servant and winning it? However, Cirno's (and Shirou's) wacky hijinks tend to lead to many humorous good and bad ends, some fully serious, others hilarious. Help these two to find their special ending!
1. Page 01

Two months before the start of the fifth Holy Grail War the Einzbern representative summons the supposed "strongest servant". Of course, Heracles is a great servant. Or Hercules… however you spell his name. Anyway, yes, that servant, summoned in the war as Berserker, is without doubt one of the strongest and best servants in the war.

But to lay claim to the title of strongest? Not everyone can let that slide. And certainly not a certain ice fairy.

Okay, now before you start asking stuff like "Aren't fairies immortal? How can she nag nag nag nag nag." I say "Shut up! All things come to an end, the only exceptions are those three damned hourai people… and whoever they add to their ranks. Fairies die when their planet doesn't contain the element of nature they represent anymore, which in Cirno's case will happen in the year 2028 when a mad scientist blows up earth… Or by global warming, whichever happens first. That caused our heroine to die, allowing her to go to the throne of… wait, she's part of nature, she would join the beasts of Gaia…

Now how am I going to talk myself out of this one…

Maybe if I… nope, can't use her as a Counter Guardian, they're a bunch of human-only racists…

Then… nah, I can't use the Dead Apostle Ancestors either…

Oh wait, if I-no… if I use a Gap Youkai, one Grand Wishard Marshal, twenty-two pocket dimensions, twelve tons of spaghetti, ZA WARUDO, a chinese gate guard, seventeen shampoo bottles and a car bumper I might have a valid reason to include her to the Throne, but it creates only more plotholes… and I probably have to move this story to the Fate x JoJo crossover page…

Ah, screw this! You want to see her as a badass servant (if not, then why are you reading this?), so you are going to get it! Screw the rules, I'll make an exception! This time…

Anyway, on with the story!

-Page 1-

"Checkmate." Standing over me is a man in blue body thighs. In his hands he holds a red spear, and it is wielded to its utmost limit by this man.

I lie on the ground, fallen over from a powerful kick that made me crash through a wall and into the garden shed. The force if the blow was so great that it broke my wall and blew the shed doors right out of their hinges. It is normally impossible to perform such a feat, but this man did it like it was nothing.

"I don't get it, though." he continues as I try to stand up, spitting out a bit of blood on the go. "You think fast on your feet, but you're hopeless at magecraft. You do seem to have a knack for it…" I don't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult. "Maybe you were meant as the seventh."

Seventh, inhuman people like him, I don't know what he is talking about. I only know one thing for sure.

"Well, even if it were, this is the end for you." He readies his lance, ready to put an end to my life for the second time this day.

"Screw that." I cannot accept that. "My life was spared." If I am dead, I cannot save people. And because my life was saved… "Because my life was saved… I'm not going to die that easily!" I have trouble standing up, and at best I can sit down in front of my predator and cast him a fierce glare. I must look like a wounded cat trying to intimidate a wolf. But I will survive this! "I have to live and fulfill my obligations, and I can't do that if I'm dead." I notice something burning itself onto my hand, but I pay it no attention. For now, "I'm not going to get killed in a place like this,"

His spear, my death, approaches…

"for no good reason by a guy like you,"

Something wells up inside of me…

"who kills people like it is nothing!"

The ground underneath me shines bright blue, making the man in front of me cuss: "Damn, the seventh Servant?!" His attacks stops as he blocks an attack from something behind me, using the momentum of the blow to jump back at least forty meters.

I look at my savior, who is now standing before me. It's a young girl with short blue hair, giving off a cool air, as cool as those things on her back that look like… ice wings? Six odd protrusions of ice hover closely behind this girl, forming a pattern like the wings of a seraph. This girl feels as inhuman as that spearman, even though without those wings she would look like an ordinary girl in a blue one-piece dress.

She turns to me, a haughtiness on her face that wouldn't fit on any other kid, yet somehow the contradiction between her looks and presence doesn't feel off.

"So, you're the one who summoned the strongest?" I have no idea what she's talking about, but she doesn't give me the chance to retort: "Well, no matter, talking can wait until I've defeated the baddie out there in the garden!" She walks away from me, towards the man who almost killed me twice today.

"So, you're the one trying to kill my master?" Cockily she shouts out those words, fully believing in her superiority. "That's too bad, but I'm gonna mess you up!" She stands firm, even though the power balance feels heavily in the spearman's favor.

"Hmm…? So you're the seventh?" The blue lancer finally takes a good look at his enemy, distinguishing all important information about her. "Don't mind me saying this, but… you look kinda weak." With a saddened face he grips his spear, ready to kill the girl in front of me. "It's a shame… I hoped that you would be a bit stronger… perhaps it's because of the botched summoning that you're like that? Anyways, I'll be sure to make it brief."

I try to stand up, run to the girl and protect her from harm, but before my eyes I feel her power shift. Her left arm is covered in black garb, and gloves of the same color cover her hands. A black armored cloak covers her left hip and waist, held high by two leather belts slung over the right hip and shoulder respectively. Her feet, once bare, are wrapped in black combat boots. All of this is worn over her old clothes.

And not only clothes appeared. Six swords are on her back, of which the two most notable are in her hands right now: in her left she holds a greatsword fashioned after a popsicle stick, with hiragana letters upon in spelling out "winner". Her right holds a longsword fashioned after a watermelon pops. Even though these look comical, the power she radiates prevents anyone from laughing.

The spearman smirks at this power-up and jump right into combat, just like the girl. Blades and spear clash, at speeds unimaginable to normal humans. I cannot do anything but to watch from the shed as these two duke it out.

Their power is incredible. The girl, even though she has such a small size, manages to overpower the spearman with brute force. But the skill of the man with his spear is insane, allowing him to perform techniques no ordinary spearman could even dream to perform. He strikes from angles impossible at locations unthinkable, disallowing the girl to take the offense. If the girl strikes like an assault rifle, continuous and strong, then the spearman is a precision rifle, attacking less but still being as dangerous as his opponent.

With a final clash the duo jumps away from each other, the girl a few feet in front of me and the man at the other side of the garden. "You're pretty good, Saber! I take back what I said, you're a great representative for the strongest class!" He says, speaking without any signs of lies. The girl named Saber takes the compliment well, and gives one in return:

"You're pretty good too, Lancer! Of course, I'm still holding back… but still, not bad!" He laughs too, claiming that he did the same as the girl:

"You're not the only one who is still holding back. My master's a bit of a coward, and he prevented me from going all out on my first encounter with a servant." Incredible. These two had such a powerful fight, even when they're both holding back. What is the extent of these people?

Lancer lazily swings his spear on his shoulder, trying to stop the fighting. "Hey, how about we end it here for today? Let's call our duel a draw for now, and next time we decide a winner by fighting at full force." He grins, trying to use his charisma to alter our decision in his favor. While I'm not falling for it, Saber seems a bit enthralled:

"So, you're also holding back? Now you're really interesting! I didn't expect such power from someone with a gay bulge!" Wait, what? These last words suddenly prevent me from taking Saber seriously anymore.

Lancer, on the other hand, turns very angry. Not anger aimed at someone failing, but self-anger, and respect for his opponent. "You bastard, so you figured out the name of my spear, huh?" He brandishes his spear once more, in the same terrifying way I saw back at school. The mana in the air freezes, and I find myself nearly unable to move.

Saber, however, is completely unaffected. She walks forward, mockingly smiling at his opponent. "Not a bad freeze, but it's nothing compared to my Perfect Freeze! But still, this is better than I expected from a gay!"

The freeze stops, mainly because Lancer stumbles over Saber's comment. "So you didn't…" he briefly wonders to himself before realizing the true intent of Saber's words. "Hey!" He shouts out, pointing his finger at Saber, "I'm not gay!"

"That's a pretty late denial, Lancer…" Saber sneers, increasing Lancer's rage.

"Ehm, Saber," I speak out, finally finding room to interfere in the conversation, "why are you so certain that he's, well, into men?"

"Well just look at him!" Saber almost cries out, "What point do you need me to point out? His hair, that's long and well-cared for like girl hair?"

"My hair is beautifully coiffed! Heck, the only reason I got to shag Fann was because she loved my beautiful hair!" He takes a hand through his wavy hair, showing off how beautiful it is. "I'm a womanizer! Every part of my body is screaming that out loudly!" Also, is Fann really a female name, it sounds rather ambigious.

"Then what about that skintight suit you wear, showing off your abs without shame. That's something a pervert wears when he molests someone!"

"Don't diss my country's honorable battle garb! Every warrior wears some colorful variation on this, even the women! The problem lies not with us but with those people of today that wear too much and too restrictive clothing. Besides, It helps me keep up my speed to defeat you in battle!" He brandishes his lance, ready to attack again and not listening anymore.

"So if you're not gay, then why do you use your long stiff rod in battle?" Cirno asks.

"It's a damn spear, you retard!" Lancer speaks out in anger. "Those are naturally long and stiff! Why else would I be a Lancer? Heck, you can search up my legend with what I've told you: I married my wife Emer, got a kid with lady Aife, had a rellationship with Derbforgaill, had a one night stand with Medb, would've made love with Blathnat if she didn't die, and of course there's also Fann... although that was kind of a mess." He adds sheepishly as he scratches himself behind his back,mumbling about stuff like "angry wife" and "fairy problems". "But what I am saying", Lancer continues as he reaches the climax of his speech, "is that neither in past, present or future, there is not a single greater womanizer then me on the entire planet." He readies his spear, preparing to ignore our talk and simply kill us both…

…but he stops when Cirno apologizes for calling Lancer gay.

Lancer jumps back to his original position, and looks ready to forgive us. "Fine, it doesn't matter what you said anymore, they're past news now. So, after this awkward period, still want to call it a draw? I'm not really in the mood anymore for any fighting."

"Yes… you're not gay… you're obviously bi!" Both Lacer and I stare at Saber, who keeps on rambling about Lancer's sexuality. "Your history and looks make that obvious! You can get everyone to fall in love with you, just like the Alice and Marisa I know! Heck, Alice can probably say "Die for me!" to a random person and I guess there's an 80 percent chance that they will really kill themselves, as long as they're not resistant to dark-elements. Considering the sexuality of those two, you must be the same."

"Saber… you…" Lancer is at a loss for words, unable to find any reply, oranything else for that matter. The only thing left for him… "Okay, that's it." …is to snap. "You are dead to me." Lancer brandishes his spear, and as the mana in the air freezes he tries to kill us once more...

"Oh, but why would you kill someone saying the truth, little dog?" I look up and see a cloaked woman standing on top of the roof, look at us with a cold smile. "Or should I re-enlighten you on your recent endeavors?"

"Caster…" Lancer grumbles at the newcomer, pointing his spear. "The hell are you talking about?"

Caster lets out a small kya, surprising all three of us. She acts like she has just been victimized. "Oh my, don't point that spear at me again! Honestly, a dog should not try his hand at courting a human, although you try to pierce everything in existence: You tried it on me, that red-clad servant you got twenty-seven times, or should I talk about how you pierced that boy's heart?"

"Don't say things that can be taken the wrong way, Caster!" The dog barks back, being much worse than his bite. But I did not see that coming. Man. Woman. Even me.

"Lancer you are an enemy to all men, women and every living being on earth." Saber speaks out, and I see that both Saber and Caster are grinning. On the other hand Lancer looks like he has given up all hope, therefore only leaving a final curse.

"Caster, you bitch. I hate you so much right now."

"Obviously, little hound." Caster gloats, "people of my alignment have a tendency of kicking the likes of you." Before letting out a small chuckle.

Saber and Caster look at each other, conveying feelings of success. The third inhuman being, a sad, angered and broken Lancer, leaves the stage, dissolving into blue particles that scatter in the moonlight, leaving only us three.

"So… Lancer is gone…" I mutter out silently, trying to get rid of the silence. The other two notice the problem too, and try to solve it, with Saber following up my words:

"Leaving only two servants. So, Caster any plans on continuing the fight?" Saber mockingly asks Caster to continue, using her sword to taunt Caster into attacking.

"Saber, do not take me for the likes of you that act rashly. I'm not interested in a fight on enemy territory… but if you want a fight so badly… then I'll leave you a final gift." She scatters a handful of small unidentified things at our feet, which under the guise of purple smoke transform into skeleton warriors, each armed to the teeth.

Caster bows politely, and starts to dissolve into pink butterflies. "And with this, I say farewell. Until later, my cute Saber…ufufu…" These last words are spoken with a small laugh just before even the butterflies completely disappear, leaving me with Saber alone facing an army of skeletons.

Saber stands still, looking slightly impressed with the sorcery of Caster. I, on the other hand, cannot stay still. One young girl, no matter how skilled, shouldn't fight an army of monsters. I grab the nearest object I can use as a weapon, which in this case is a washing pole, and apply the only magic I know upon it.

Reinforcement. Magecraft meant to enhance an object by pouring magical energy into it. By pouring your own prana in the so-called holes of an object you can improve the function of it. Food will become more nutritious and filling, a knife will become sharper, and if I would risk using it on my own body I could probably increase my own strength and durability. However, objects tend to break if the reinforcement breaks, for no object likes to have foreign prana in it. If I use it on myself in the state I'm in now I will probably lose whatever part of my body I'm trying to reinforce. And considering that my success rate is around fifteen percent…

No, I simply have to use this weapon. Luckily the reinforcement works, increasing the durability and blunt damage from the pole. With a single swing I blow through the first of these skeletons, but at a price:

I learned that I was wrong. My reinforcement failed, it's blunt damage increased at the cost of almost all its durability. I would probably write down this new experience were it not for two more skeletons charging at me, trying to kill the unarmed me.

Shit. I've come so close to living, does it end here already?

No. I won't let it. I ready my fists, willing to punch out these things if necessary. So come, I'll not give my life away today!

*clang*!

The two enemies that charged at me now crumble to dust, killed by a single sword slash of Saber.

"Hey, not bad! I don't mind a master willing to fight on the front lines, but don't be reckless, 'kay?" With her foot she kicks up a sword, the one belonging to the monster that I killed. I grab it, holding it in my hand as my main weapon. "After all, there's slightly more problems than just these 100 guys around us." Just as she says that I see the remains of the three killed enemies merge together to form a new warrior.

This is a slight problem, increasing the amount of trouble we have with fifty percent. I perform structural analysis on the blade, thereby learning its entire history and existence: A blade whose materials date back to the classical era. Formed from the teeth of dragons and enchanted by a great witch, a blade made with mechanical precision for mechanically precise fighters.

I enhance this blade even further with my own prana, making it a part of me. I leave Saber with the larger group to the right, and I myself take on the smaller group to the left. There are around twenty-five of them on my side, meaning that Saber's group is almost three times my size. Oh well, when I'm done with mine I'll help her, and make sure she will be saved.

I charge at the monstrosities, trying to kill them one at a time. A sweep at the legs followed by a blow with the pummel destroys the first one and a vertical slice cuts the second in half. I have to keep the offensive, if I start to block attacks I will lose by the sheer overwhelming number of opponents.

Positioning myself so that I never have to face more than two enemies at the same time I fight my way through. After many frantic blows I see that I have almost defeated two-thirds of my enemies, only ten of them left in my way. Hold on, Saber, I'll come and save you!

I cut through another two, noticing that the blade I reinforced doesn't have any form of damage even after killing so many monsters. Wow, this multi-millennial weapon really is something else, and Caster can produce a hundred of these together with wielders by doing only a casual flick of the hand? Incredible…

The moment I was lost in thought is brief but fatal. I forgo attacking for thinking and as punishment I'm forced on the defensive, blocking and parrying blows from the monsters. Their attacks, while not giving off any feeling of danger, are precise, with little openings. Their strength is low, but it takes great amounts of strength to overpower these things.

I manage to counter two of these things, slicing them to ribbons as their few friends left fill the gap. But that's okay. There are only six left, if I can continue countering like this I will be done with my pests in a minute before I need to go to Saber's help.

No, I slightly see purple gas coming from behind, and I suddenly feel the presence of six more of these beings behind me.

Damn. I'm trapped. Two forces surround me, and I am not capable enough to stop their power. Think, think! Is there nothing I can do to defeat these things? Is there nothing in my mind that has a solution for these things? Can I do nothing? Will I have to be saved again? Will I die, without saving anyone?

As if listening to my pleas I hear something crashing into the six behind me, their life forms disappearing from my senses. I double the focus I put on those in front of me, and with renewed vigor I fight until all enemies are defeated.

I turn to Saber, who is now sitting on the balcony with a popsicle in her mouth. The army surrounding her had already been cleaned up by her, and she's probably the one who took care of the six warriors behind me. Once again I failed to save, and ended up getting saved. Damn it!

Silently I sit down next to her, still sulking over my inability. She seems to notice, as a grin appears on her face and a second popsicle appears in her hands.

"Here!" She hands the second popsicle to me, as if she's asking that we both enjoy the sweet flavor. "You've done really well, beating those warriors with nothing more than a sword! This is your reward!" I grab the ice pop and unwrap it before putting the popsicle in my mouth. The sweet taste and the coldness both overflow in my mouth. It's not my favorite type of food, but after this battle it's almost a godsend.

"It's refreshing and sweet." I say in between bites of the popsicle, enjoying the taste. "Thanks, Saber."

"You're welcome." She says, but I can feel a lecture coming. Assuming 'Universal Lecture Pose 9' she scolds me for calling her Saber.

"I'm not Saber. The strongest cannot be contained by a simple class moniker like Saber or Lancer. I've no problems if you call me Saber when enemies like that bisexual guy or Caster are nearby, but when we are alone I want you to call me by my true name, the name of the classless, the strongest! My name is Cirno!… and who are you?"

Ah, I forgot to mention my name thus far! "My name is Emiya Shirou. Nice to meet you, Cirno."

"Likewise." She finishes her popsicle, looking at the writing on the stick to determine whether she won a prize. With a "Tsk" she throws her popsicle in the garbage bin, clearly not winning a free popsicle. "So, Shirou, you've summoned the strongest servant in this war to fight for you. As my master, you will lead me in battle and together we will win the Holy Grail!" She turns to me, her face dangerously close to mine. I back away slightly, feeling a warm blush on my cheeks. "So, any questions, Shirou?"

I think of her explanation, and there is one question that comes to mind:

 **A) What happened to my blond-haired anime waifu?**

 **B) If I'm your master, and you're my servant… then you must be my maid!**

 **C) I don't get any of this. Cirno, explain all the things! - Go to Page 4**

-Page 1 End-

What's this now? A multiple choice ending? Yes indeed good sir, this story allows YOU to choose which route Shirou will follow! Shaped like the original VN this story allows the people to form it!

As you can see above, at the end of each chapter there will appear multiple options. You will choose one of them and write the story to continue after that line. Of course, sometimes lines will lead to bad ends, just like in the original. Who knows, maybe if you find all bad ends I'll add a special bonus chapter!

For which route I choose… well… it's first come first goes. The first one to offer a useful review while explaining which route he wants to take will get his route chosen. Of course, this happens anew after every chapter, giving everyone new chances to make Shirou go the way they want to!

In case of reaching a bad (or in the case you bastards got lucky, good) end there will be no new choices, but the first one to review after publishing this may choose any(!) previous not chosen story branch, after which the story will follow that line! So if you're unhappy with a chosen path you can alter it to your own pleasure!

Of course, after enough chapters are added the story will become more of a "Choose your own adventure" type of story, which means that you will have to scroll through the pages to get the full story. I will leave helpful markers that say which choice will lead to which chapter, and make sure that the reading experience is as easy and comfortable as possible.

One last thing… nobody can choose the next part multiple times in a row. This is to further plot diversity and increase the number of bad ends, because seeing you guys getting bad ends is fun!

Let our adventure begin!


	2. Page 04

**-Page 1** **C) I don't get any of this. Saber, explain all the things!-**

-Page 4-

I have so many questions: Masters, Servants, Grail Wars, It goes all over my head. I'm only a third-rate magus not instructed in the lore of the magi. It is only logical that I do not understand it. "I don't get any of this. Saber, please explain all the things I do not understand."

"Hah…" Cirno sighs, not happy with this development. "I guess you're better at the fighting stuff then the thinking stuff. But no matter, I'll fill the gaps in your knowledge. And while it may not help much it will at least reduce the chance of an encounter with that Shinra president gap hag." Who? Shinra hag? Is that another term I need to remember? This is getting more difficult to understand with every passing minute.

Cirno stands up and returns inside, gesturing to me to follow her. I do as told, going after her into my house. It's still a rummage inside, the battle between me and Lancer having left quite a few marks in my house. The worst part is the hole in the wall that he left when he kicked me through it, that will be hard to clean up quickly.

I clean up a bit of the mess around the dinner table, and the two of us sit down. A magic pulse swirls around Cirno, as I see her change form once again. The black clothing disappears, and the only thing that comes in the place for it is a pair of red half-rimmed glasses. The power she had just moments ago suddenly feels so far away, but in this form she feels not… less, so to say. It's more of an exchange that happened. Instead of power this girl in front of me holds wisdom, intelligence; it's not hard to say that she's a-

"Genius?"

Yes indeed, a geniu-"Hold on, did you just read my mind?" What the hell, is she telepathic?

"No, I'm not a Satori or something like their kind. I simply read your facial expressions. From that I could make an elaborate guess, which seems to have been right." This… this is incredible, a feat that's even hard to reproduce with magecraft. Is this the power of pure knowledge? "Of course, a genius like me cannot have any problems with something as simple as this!" She laughs loud, unfitting but deserved. At the moment, even though she looks like a kid, she sounds like a genius.

"Anyhow, there's more important business to conduct. While I prefer to teach others perfect math I'm not too shabby at teaching you some history and lore." She begins explaining about the artifact that caused me to be involved in this mess. With each word wisdom flows from her mouth, her genius flowing into mine: "The Holy Grail. While non-magi only know it as the cup the Messiah drank from, magi use it for every object that is capable of granting miracles, the wishes of humanity. There have been a few hundred of these in the existence of the world, and the Grail we're fighting for is the latest addition to that group."

It's a thing of unimaginable existence. "So there have also been a few hundred wishes made? What did they wish for?"

"Well, that's only in theory. Not even nine percent of these grails successfully managed to fulfill the wish of its owner. Sometimes the Grail got lost, wasn't stabilized enough to remain in the world, or some other condition wasn't fulfilled to let it grant its miracle. For example, there have been four previous wars of this type held in Fuyuki, and not a single person got their wish granted. The first time it ended before the Grail was completed, the second time it ended in a murder spree with no survivors, the third time… let's just keep it at a wacky Nazi incident, and the fourth one ended because some idiot thought that it was a good idea to destroy the grail. This happened ten years ago, which led to a great fire that-"

I know this. "-destroyed an entire district and killed 500 people." After all, I was in it. I could've easily been another of those numbers, another dead person. But I survived. I survived where others died. For those people, I need to live. And who was the idiot that caused the fire to begin with? I do not know his name, or whether this fire was an accident, a miscalculation or on purpose; However, I know I cannot like someone who unleashes such evil. "This Grail, it is dangerous. What would happen if someone with evil intentions gets the Grail? And we can't destroy that thing, that will only lead to unleashing its wrath on the city."

"Indeed." Cirno speaks slightly solemn, not happy about the Grail itself. "But that's not something to worry about. After all, you've summoned this genius, the servant who's undeniably the strongest. If we lose it's completely your fault." A sneer, but not with evil intent. This is akin a prank one plays on his friend to cheer him up.

I smile a bit in return, unable to not enjoy her company. "I guess you're right, Cirno." I stand up and walk to the kitchen, being a bit thirsty from everything that happened. "I'm setting tea right now. Any kind of tea that you like?"

"Hmm… give me an ice tea!" I almost let out a laugh at that stupid yet genius answer. I set some tea for myself and pour a glass of that drink for Cirno. I wait a while for the tea to finish, while Cirno and I speak about a bit of unrelated and unimportant topics.

 _Meanwhile, outside of the Emiya mansion…_

Outside of the Emiya mansion are a master-servant pair desperately searching for Lancer, to prevent him from killing innocent people like the master's classmate, Emiya Shirou.

"So…" the master, known by everyone around her as Rin Tohsaka, speaks, "There's…not really anyone left."

"Indeed." The servant, a white-haired man clad in red and black, replies. "If Lancer really was here he probably would've gotten the job done and retreated. Don't forget that Lancers are one of the fastest servants in the war, and this guy belongs to the absolute top of these speedsters."

The girl looks down, saddened by this loss. "Emiya…" The sadness, however, quite gives rise to anger. "Eeeemiyaaa…! I spend my most precious jewel to revive you and you use it to die an hour later. Hehehe… hahaha!" Oh boy, something evil is awakening inside of Rin.

"Calm down, Rin." Her servant speaks, trying to prevent her from holding such thoughts. "That guy you saved survived a blow from the cursed spear Gae Bolg. He's the type of guy who doesn't die from something as simple as being killed."

"But people die when they are killed!" Rin shouts out, objecting to Archer's words, "That's how it's supposed to be!"

"There exist these kind of people who perform miraculous feats. You may know them as Heroic Spirits. And this guy, Emiya Shirou, is the type of guy whose attitude might get him into the Throne. So just hope for a miracle."

"Hah…" Rin takes a deep breath, and let's all the excess air out of her lungs in one deep exhalation. "Yeah, you're right, Archer. I just have to hope for the best." She stands up, next to Archer, ready to go.

…

…

…

"Hey Archer?" Rin asks slightly annoyed.

"Yes, Master?"

"What are we supposed to do right now?" Rin asks a pretty good question. They already fought Lancer, and the two got separated from each other after combat. And there's not really anything else to do.

"Well…" Archer starts to propose, "I was personally thinking to be ambushed around this place by Saber, only to be saved because Saber's master didn't wish for fighting. We take the idiot master to the church, where Kotomine will explain the rules of the war, and afterward Saber and I fight Berserker together. After that and a lot of other stuff you've fallen in love with Saber's master and I will be the last Servant standing, thereby effectively winning the Grail."

"Archer, are you making fun of me?" Rin speaks out with tranquil fury.

"I wouldn't dare, Rin. Since there's no Saber to ambush us how about we just go home? I'll pour you a good cup of tea."

Rin looks at Archer, agreeing with what he says. Quickly looking away from him she walks away, towards her home, thereby majorly screwing the original Fate/Stay Night plot over.

 _And back to our protagonist:_

"And that's why frozen frogsicles are now a culinary delicacy in Malawi." I have to laugh a bit at her ridiculous but true story. It's something I would've never guessed, but it was fun to listen to. The water finished cooking, so I pour a cup for myself. Together with a tea bag and Cirno's drink I take it back to the table.

The two of us are now enjoying a refreshing drink, something to keep us sharp just a bit longer for this night. Cirno takes a small sip of her drink before continuing where we left off: "But back on topic, now that you know the origin of the Grail let me explain the workings of the Grail: To be able to grant miracles a massive amount of prana is needed. The Grail accumulates this by siphoning energy from this land. When the Grail is nearly filled it selects seven people who can qualify as masters. These are marked by the grail itself, as you can see on the back of your hand."

I look on the back of my hand. Indeed, the markings are there. I realize now that I felt a burning sensation before, when that blue spearman tried to kill me. Was that the moment when I was chosen by the Grail and engraved with these? Nine figures, all in red, combined to form a figure like… my servant? "Huh?" One for the head, one for the body, one for the feet, and six for the wings. "Is it always supposed to look like your servant?"

"Hold on, did you say that the command seals look like me?" I'll take that as a no. Grabbing my hand she looks in admiration at the simple drawing in her image, amazed that such a thing is possible. "Ah, it's true! It's so cute!" She nearly squees from excitement, but tries to maintain her image and reassume her now somewhat ruined posture. "A-Anyhow, those are command seals. They're what give masters the right to bind servants to them as their familiars. We're Ghost Liners, the strongest type of familiars, and each of us is a legendary hero molded into a certain class, but I'll get to that later. These command seals are basically a large amount of prana stored on your hand. You can use them as a prana source to temporarily increase my power, or to force me to do something I don't want or let me do something that restrictions would normally not allow. But in general I recommend that you use it when you find your own prana lacking to do something necessary. Got that?"

I understand most of the story, but there is one thing that doesn't sit well with me. "I have a question. You said you were a Ghost Liner… does that mean you can turn invisible and pass through walls like any other ghost?"

"Well, it's not so much of 'turn invisble' as it is 'change my plane of existence'. Servants can usually turn to the astral plane, become invisible and intangible, at the cost of being unable to do things other than telepathically speaking to their master. You don't need to worry about it, because due to an incorrect summoning and canon continuity I am unable to take astral form. I have to follow you around continuously. To protect you."

I nod as she drinks another gulp from her ice tea, before continuing about the servants of a war:

"The reason I need to protect you is because the other six masters have their own servants. These are copies of legendary heroic spirits summoned into a class container to give them form. These containers are Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker. You've already met Lancer and Caster as enemies, remember?"

"Of course." I'm not one to forget faces an hour after seeing them. "They're quite obvious representations of their class. I remember them calling you Saber, so you're Saber, right?"

"…" Cirno does not answer, looking a bit brooding over the question.

"Cirno?" I ask, wondering if something is wrong with the question I have. Is she embarrassed with my question? Is there something else I did or said wrong?

"No, it's not exactly right. I do not represent the Saber class; I replace it. You see, servants have so-called Noble Phantasms. These are the crystallized forms of the myths surrounding us heroes. The reason you have nine command seals instead of three and why my class is so vague is because of my own Noble Phantasm, [The Many Parallel Myths: Nine Forms of the Strongest]."

"Hold on, normal masters have only three command seals? And I have thrice that amount?" Isn't this pretty much cheating?

"Well, these command seals of yours are a bit weaker than those of other masters. If we compare he power of all your seals combined with that of other masters, you have sqrt(sqrt(9)) times the amount of prana in your command seals then your opponents."

Hmm… well, that sound somewhat more reasonable. "?" I just realize that I'm talking about these complex magi terms with great ease. While I might understand it all with full concentration and in peak condition "Cirno, is part of your Noble Phantasm that I take in all this information so well?"

"No, that's caused by one of my skills. Skills are basically parameters that define a servant and gives them boosts in certain situations. For example, kings usually have a few levels in Charisma, which allows them to give combat boosts to those they lead. Other skills are given to a servant because of the class they're summoned in. That Lancer we met has the skill Magic Resistance, reducing his damage against magical attacks, while Caster can create magic items and set up a territory in which she can strengthen herself."

"And which skills do you have, Cirno? She tells me of many interesting skills, but my original question isn't answered. "I don't believe I've heard the skill that allows me to absorb knowledge so easily."

"To understand my skills you first need to have full understanding of my Noble Phantasm. [The Many Parallel Myths: Nine Forms of the Strongest] is a unique ability that lets me switch between classes. "When you summoned me I was in my classless form. It's the original form, and also the weakest, but it also has the lowest prana consumption, which makes it perfect for when I need to be in standby. From this form I can switch to nine other classes, of which you have seen two: When I fought Lancer, and also when I fought Caster's minions I was in my Saber form, and right now I'm in my Scholar form. Next to these two I have seven other forms, each with their own skills and Noble Phantasms. But there are also restrictions and negative aspects. For example, I can only assume my Saber form when protecting someone from another servant, and going into scholar form will cost me most of my combat ability in exchange for wisdom and intelligence. If you want more info on it you can read in the Servant Status Screen."

 _ **{Servant Status Screen unlocked!}**_

"Hold on, what's this, Cirno?" I see a strange line, colored differently from the rest of the world, claiming that I can look in the servant status screen. I try touching it, but all I feel is the softness of air. Is this another of her skills?

"The Servant Status Screen." She speaks monotonously as if it is the most ordinary thing in the world. "It allows you to see the information of your servant. Just open it with your mind already! If that doesn't work then just open it in an alternate tab window. The recommended way of opening is to open the reviews page in a new window, then return to the story and select the servant status screen tab. You can find it near the bottom of the chapter selection screen, named Status Screen.. The more you get to know about me the more you unlock! Good luck getting 100%, readers!"

Come again? What was that all about?

…

No matter, it's not something I want to concern myself with or get mad over. Ignoring most of the crazy talk she speaks I try to image the status of my servant in my mind.

Like a bright yet unobtainable light I sense it in the far corners of my mind, a place hard to reach for any person. But still, I have to make it to that place. I reach out for it, coming closer the more I concentrate on it. The light becomes brighter the more I focus, and eventually it overwhelms me. As it dims down I find myself in another corner of my mind, a part that explains everything about my servant…

However, it feels incomplete. No, it is incomplete. A lot of data on my servant is missing. "Hey Cirno, is this information supposed to be this incomplete?"

"Well, yes. You'll unlock more of it over time, as you come into contact with other people and in other fights. And if there's information you cannot get in this lifetime then maybe a parallel storyline of this grail war might offer a solution. It's a bit of very complicated fourth-wall breaking second magic that powers it. Right now I'd say you can see a fifth, but when looking at it at a different time you may see more."

…I have no idea what is going on anymore, her last fifty or so words completely failing to grasp anything inside my head. "Cirno, you lost me."

"Yeah, I expected as much. Just keep it at the fact that you'll be able to read more of it as time progresses." Ah, that finally makes sense again. "So, where were we going with this? I explained the Grail, Skills, Noble Phantasms, my NP and restrictions…hmm… oh! I think this is obvious, but the Grail war is a last man standing type of battle royale. You need to defeat all other six masters and their servants, which should be a piece of cake for us!"

Hold on, she speaks of defeat, but… "Do I need to kill the masters? I cannot accept such a thing."

She nods, understanding what I say and the message about me it conveys. "It's not necessary," I give a small smile of relief. It's great to hear that that is possible. Hopefully I can save everyone in this conflict. "Although all other six servants do have to die, no matter what. But we're mere ghosts of the past, people who are already dead. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

It's a simple logic I cannot refuse. Those who have died are dead. Therefore, sending them back to the grave should not be considered killing. "Indeed, but we cannot kill the masters. That is something I won't allow."

"That's okay." She smiles cockily, certain of her abilities. "It's a nice bonus challenge for the strongest. The war would be a bit more boring without it. So let's win this war, Shirou!" She cannot lose. Of that she is fully assured. She will win. With me by my side she will win. And I'm certain of that too. Simply hearing her speak like that boosts my morale.

"Let's do this together, Cirno." We both grin widely, a happiness not seen often in the Emiya household since the death of old man Kiritsugu. "Although I do have one question left." There is one thing that hasn't been answered. One thing I do not understand.

"Ask away." She's ready to answer anything I give her. Then so be it. I'll ask her the only question left. "What's Shinra, and who's the Shinra Hag?"

"Ugh…" She hangs her head on the table, with a large sweat drop appearing on her face. "Well, it is something you don't understand, I'll admit." She looks up, her face completely deadpan. "But it's not something important. The gap hag, or Shinra president, is merely a very annoying person who has a tendency to screw important things over. But as long as we're not in her home territory we should be fine." She stands up, and looks at me with a serious face. "Since there are no other questions our talk is over. I recommend that we clean up a bit and go to bed."

"Uhm… sure." It's only 11 p.m. Normally I'd be practicing magecraft in the shed until a few hours past midnight. It's a bit early for my taste, but I'll live with it.

I start cleaning up the rest of the mess. Most of it is easily cleanable, only the sliding door to the inner yard is destroyed beyond repair. I have no way of cleaning that up easily, so I need to have an excuse ready for when Sakura and Fuji-nee come for breakfast. Considering that a break-in happened I can twist that into a believable form?

I turn to where I last found Cirno, and see her sleeping on the ground. Her glasses are gone, and I cannot feel the wisdom she once held anymore. This has to be her classless form. I sigh, and lift her up from the ground. Tomorrow can wait. I've cleaned enough to make it orderly, only the wall being something that I have to fix tomorrow. Now I'll follow my servant's example and go to bed.

Putting Cirno in the guest room next to my chamber I walk over to the next room, where my simple futon lies. It's not really a fancy room, I don't even use it much because I mostly sleep and wake up in the shed. Even so, I still clean it regularly, as there is and never will be dust to find in the entire room. I simply lie down in the futon and close my eyes, easily falling asleep. Tonight I have a good a simple rest.

…

…

…

"Senpai?" I hear a voice. I know the voice, but who was it again? "Senpai, please wake up!" Someone gently pushes my shoulder, trying to wake me up.

"…Sakura?" I open my eyes, seeing her in front of my eyes. "Ah, did I oversleep again? Sorry, sorry." I wake up completely, my mind sharp once again. "I'll start working on breakfast."

"Senpai, what happened to the wall of your house? You didn't get hurt, I hope?" Sakura, ever thoughtful as always. A good childhood friend, a nice person who always comes over for breakfast and a nice chat, together with my legal guardian who acts more like a sister figure. These two are part of my life, even in this holy grail war.

"Don't worry, Sakura, I'm fine. There was a break-in in my house last night, but I managed to repel the invaders." It's a pretty decent half-truth, as there were invaders, and they were repelled. There's nothing to worry about, Sakura should accept this lie, and the only bad thing to happen is that she'll worry a bit more about me.

"How horrible!" She shouts out as she stands up, "Take your time to get up, I'll make the food." She stands up and walks out of the room, in the direction of the living room.

Well, that could've gone worse. I've kept the secret of magi, although I do feel a bit bad that I'm not allowed to cook. I get up from my futon, and change my clothes. I walk to the dresser in my room and pick a new shirt. It's not hard to choose which shirt I'll put under my school uniform: around 6 months ago Taiga saw a sale in a clothing store, with one shirt costing less than a tenth of its original value. Taiga being Taiga decided that it is a good idea to buy thirty shirts at the same time. And now I'm stuck with thirty of these white, blue-sleeved shirts. And including the one that got pierced yesterday I've only gone through four. Hah, If it continues like this I'll never wear something else…

I take the fifth of the shirts, and together with the school uniform I fully clothe myself in my standard garb. I walk out of the room, into the hallway, where I smell the delicious cooking of Sakura. It smells amazing, in a few months she might surpass her teacher, me!

I open the door to the living room, with my biggest smile on my face. "Sakura, this smells ama…zing…" That's where I see Taiga and Cirno playing tag in the living room, making it a slight mess. Oh yeah…I knew I forgot to explain something to these two. Taiga doesn't seem to mind Cirno in her presence. Hopefully Sakura is the sa-

"Senpai?" Bloodlust. Not once have I felt the same level of danger. The bloodlust that appears when two servants fought each other was probably higher, but I didn't feel it as much because it was never aimed at me. Lancer held bloodlust against me, but it wasn't a fully serious bloodlust. Caster's minions tried to kill me, but they only gave an eerie unhuman feeling that couldn't be called bloodlust. This, however, is sickening, maddening! I look at the direction of the voice, and see a very, very tranquil Sakura. So tranquil, in fact, that it scares me out of my wits. "Who is this girl, Senpai?"

"Uhm, well, you see, she… helped me against the robbers!" Yes that's i-no, it's horrible! There's no way she will believe me! "Uhm… she… was… outside, yes, when the robbers fled, and she lost those important to her. Yes, that's it!" Did I just say that out loud? Ugh, I'm in trouble. "And because I want to make her, just like everyone, happy I took her in!" There is no way Sakura is going to believe this.

"Senpai…" Hold on, are my eyes deceiving me or is Sakura's hair going white? "…in what way do you want to make her happy? Do you mean in a loving way?" A very, very dark aura seems to surround her, yet neither Cirno nor Taiga seem to notice. Is it that concentrated on me?

"O-Of course not! I simply want to save her! At most it will be just like what old man Kiritsugu did!"

"So it's like she's a cute daughter…" Suddenly everything around her disappears, like all that evil surrounding Sakura was just a bad dream. "I believe you, Senpai!" She smiles at me, this time a smile filled with happiness. "It will be good practice before we have a kid of our own!"

Completely ignoring everything Sakura said after 'I believe you' I turn to Taiga. "Taiga, you don't have any problems with this either?"

"Of course not, Shirou!" Like a tiger she jumps after Cirno, who seems to dodge her every move. "I think that she's a wonderful kid for you and Sakura to raise! Now she just needs. To. Hold. STILL!" With a fast jump she aims at Cirno, but she simply dodges to the side.

"You couldn't catch me even if I stood still, tiger granny." Okay, Cirno is in trouble now. Taiga becomes furious, raging wildly, as her speed and power both quadruple. Cirno can barely dodge her anymore, and now she's trapped in the corner of the room.

"Gotcha!" Taiga sprints at Cirno, catching her in the corner… but hits a wall. My servant barely dodged a blow as powerful as a real tiger by… flying up? Yes, Cirno is flying in the top of the room, and the secret of magecraft suddenly becomes very hard to keep up.

"Hahaha!" Cirno laughs out loud! "You're nothing compared to the strongest!" Without any regard for the laws of nature she hovers in the air.

"Cirno, get down!" Taiga should not see this. Sakura is still focused on cooking, but can turn around any moment and see this. "Using those new newfangled gimmicky toys is forbidden! I had you if you didn't cheat!" Taiga cries out loud, apparently not caring about the complete disregard of common sense. To be fair, she never had much of it, but still!

Cirno flies to the exits of the room, outside to the inner yard. "Oh yeah? Even without flying I can still beat any old tiger!"

Taiga falls for the taunt, rampaging after my servant, luckily avoiding obstacles like the dinner table. I don't want to have more of a mess. These two continue playing while Sakura and I speak about ordinary live. Eventually the food is ready, and the four of us start eating.

The talk is quite ordinary. Cirno is mainly childishly bragging about how awesome she is (even though no one really listens), and in a way she reminds me of Taiga. Perhaps that's the reason those two get along so well. Taiga is eating most of the food without talking much while Sakura and I are talking about school and the new kid Cirno.

"And Senpai, what are you going to do when the three of us go to school? Doesn't little Cirno have school?" She has a point. What am I going to do with Cirno? As a heroic spirit, even if she looks like ten, she doesn't need school. But taking her with me is hard because she cannot astralize. Or should I skip school and make up plans for today? Or maybe…

No, I have to make my choice here:

 **A) I have to skip school.**

 **B) I cannot take Cirno with me to school. - Go to page 50.**

 **C) Both school and Cirno are important to me.**

-Page 4 end-


	3. Page 50

**-Page 4 B) I cannot take Cirno with me to school-**

I cannot take Cirno with me to school. That will simply create complicated problems I don't want to deal with. Therefore she has to stay and guard home.

"Uhm… her school celebrates…" It's the second of February, what's to celebrate on this day… uhm… is there actually any special celebration on this day?

"Groundhog day. We celebrate it every year, and we have holidays until valentine's day." Cirno answers in her Scholar form. "Which means I can do whatever I want for today."

"Yeah, she can take care of herself." I look at Cirno, somewhat trying to make clear that I'm leaving hidden messages in my speech. "Knowing her she will probably go out in the city, trying to find others like her." I look at Cirno, who seems to have understood that I want her to scout through the city in search for other servants. Having no more need for her scholar form she returns once more to her normal form, now continuing eating her food while bragging about how awesome she is.

"Oh, if you say so, Sempai." Sakura looks a bit… sad? I don't really understand why, but I want to see her happy again. Therefore I will talk to her and make her smile brightly once more. We talk a bit, all not really important stuff, but at least Sakura laughs again.

"Hey guys, I'm going to school now!" Fuji-nee calls out as she runs to the outside door. I follow her, making sure everything is all right as she leaves. I wave her goodbyeknowing that we'll see each other again in an hour. When she is out of sight I return back inside, to Sakura and Cirno, who are eating the last bits of their food. I already finished, probably because I take bigger bites than them, letting me finish earlier.

"Sakura, are you almost ready?" Quickly she shoves the last few pieces of her food in her mouth before proclaiming that she's ready to go. We leave Cirno in the house and start walking to school.

The route to school is around thirty minutes on foot. Some parts are done in silence, others with some unimportant smalltalk, and only part of the walk was even slightly memorable:

Twenty minutes into walking towards the school, I start talking about Sakura's situation at home: "So Sakura, how's it back at your house?"

"Everything's fine, Sempai." She says from slightly behind me. Whenever we walk together she tends to walk three steps behind me. While I don't mind that, it does make talking a bit awkward.

"Okay, if you say so. And how is Shinji these days? Still shirking any form of work and responsibility?" I know Shinji is not per se a bad guy. He's a nice person, somewhat knowledgeable of those around him, and a very good talker. But his ability to shove work onto others almost got me killed. I turn to Sakura, and see her slightly unhappy.

"You shouldn't talk about Shinji like that, Sempai. Sure, he's lazy," True, "has an annoying laugh," also true, "tends to hit me," Very true, "and contributes absolutely nothing to society," Obviously! "but he's still my brother."

"Yes, as they say, even evil has loved on-hold on, what was the third thing you said?"

"Nothing, nothing!" She says quickly, hiding her eyes with her bangs, "And he still has some good qualities!"

Of course, this allows me to ask one of the most impossible questions in the universe: "Name three."

"Well, uhm…" She's clearly struggling with giving even one answer, let alone three. This is an impossible request equal to one of the five in The Tale of Princess Kaguya. She will be unable to give even one. "He used to be a sweet kid…" Okay, unable to give two… "Oh, and his failure serves to make the beautiful, brave and pure me look better!" Two, I'll give her that. But three…

It's impossible. She thinks for five minutes, but cannot come up with anything. There are no other good qualities about Shinji. "But still, he isn't doing anything despicable to you, Sakura?" I still remember those times that Shinji used to hit Sakura for nonsensical things, I hope that he broke off the habit after I told him about it.

"…" She stays quiet, and as I turn to her I see her painfully look away out of my view. Hrrgh… Shinji… I feel quite angered by Shinji, and almost want to punch his face in. If he tries something like that again I won't hesitate.

"Sakura." But for now I need to cheer her up. "If something happens, just talk to me. I will save you in case something bad happens to you. So don't worry."

"Sempai…" She holds back the few tears that would've flown, strengthened by my words. "I… I will tell you when something bothers me, Sempai!" I feel I understand Sakura a little more.

 **(Ka-Shinnnng! Ranku u-I mean, you gained 2 Sakura Points!)**

Again the same kind of strange pop-up message appears, This time claiming I have… Sakura points? What am I supposed to do with them? Gather up enough of them to redeem them for special items at the Grail shop? If only Cirno was here to answer me, she would solve this without problem.

Puzzled by this strange new info I silently continue walking to school. Eventually the two of us arrive, and with a final bye we go to our specific classrooms, where the lessons start.

These classes are… as uneventful as usual. It's boring and dull, even with its few bright moments. The almost standard tripping of Fuji-nee, the wacky antics of this class' joker, the witty and snarky remarks of our English teacher; it's the things in life that you won't forget even when you're a pensioned, the things that make plain life interesting.

But still, it's a bit small compared to what I want. I dream of being a hero of justice. That beautiful dream is of massive magnitude, something not fitting for an ordinary person. Of course, I don't consider myself normal. I am a magus, after all, even if I am just third-rate. It's nothing compared to those wacky TV-shows with their ideas and upholders of justice.

Heck, fulfilling said dream would be a lot easier if I were one of these, how do they call it again… ah, anime characters. I would live in some fantasy world, gather a party of daring heroes, go on quests to help the populace, grow stronger, and eventually defeat the demon lord threatening to destroy the world. If I'm lucky I have one of my party members falling in love with me and the two of us live happily ever after as a family, after being lauded as the world saving heroes. And with that the story ends, and everyone is happy ever after.

But this is real life. Such a thing will never happen here. First of all, were I to be a main protagonist of some heroic story, I would need to live an ordinary high school life, before accidentally stumbling upon some sort of "magical" event, This is usually something along the lines of meeting an absurdly beautiful girl who for some reason has taken an interest in you because of hidden powers/is forced to work with for some reason/accidentally involved you in some supernatural stuff; Then I will get along better with her, as I get stronger/face my problems/fight difficult enemies. And eventually I 'win' the ending, getting a happily ever after.

But it's not like that…. could… happen…

…

That… actually happened. Meet a cute girl = meeting Cirno. Sure, she's doesn't have the looks of a sexy lady (unless this is an anime made for pedophiles. That would be… disturbing, mainly because it will end with me being one), but she's cute for the her age and capable of shifting forms. Who says she doesn't have a form or two that turns her into an adult?

And then there's the face that she's forced to work with me to win a supernatural tournament for an even more supernatural prize. And I don't know about any hidden powers of mine, but there just might be some sort of magical world hidden in my mind.

Is this… am I sure this is not an anime? Can I really be a figment of someone else's imagination?

No! Get ahold of yourself, Shirou. This is real life, even if it contains magecraft. I will just perform a few random tests to see if this is an anime or not.

First of all, hair. Is the hair of the other important persons shaped or colored in some abnormal way? Let's start with myself. Style is normal, red hair color is uncommon but existing. My friends have normal-shaped black and wavy blue hair. The servants… well, the only one with a slightly ridiculous hairstyle is Lancer, but one person can happen, right? Otherwise everyone has normal hair colors: Black, Brown, Blonde, Red and Blue. Clearly a sign that this is probably not an anime.

A test to finalize my hypothesis: The names of my classmates. Animes tend to not give names to unimportant classmates. If I can name them all then this is not an anime.! Let's start: There's Issei, of course, and Shinji. There's Minori, who's a member of the Archery club… uhm… there's Gai… and… and… why can't I name the other twenty characters in my class? This cannot be!

No, calm down, I am probably still somewhat shaken from suddenly being cast into a magical war. When it is over surely I can remember their names again! Right?

Let's test something else: If I am an anime character then where is my harem of girls? I mean, there's absolutely no girl interested in me. I'm not like Shinji who acts like a pimp to get a ton of girls. I'll probably end up without wife because I am too busy being a superhero. I will probably be a virgin for life!

…Why do I feel like the world is laughing at me? It's true, I don't have a harem of girls that love me unlike those fake fragments of human imagination!

…

Stop laughing!

And there are many, many more reasons why this is not an anime: Everyone's eyes are normal shaped, no ridiculously messy hairstyles, no strange visual gags like popping veins or completely blank faces, no sparkly bishonens or bishoujos, this is clearly normal life! I am real! This is nor-

*Twack*

As I was busy thinking about the reality of living a piece of school chalk hits my forehead. "Emiya, stop daydreaming." Oh yeah, I've lessons to follow right now. I forget my silly thoughts and refocus on the lessons. I apologize to the teacher and continue with full focus for the rest of the classes… that still suck.

Eventually it is lunchbreak. After a bunch of rather boring lessons that I forced myself through it's finally time to eat some food and do stuff that makes people happy. In my case, it generally amounts to fixing broken mechanical tools for the school. It's the reason I got the nickname Fake Janitor, as I do more good for the school than the real janitor. Not to insult the janitor, but it's simply the truth. But I won't brag, I'm only beating him because my magecraft gives me the edge. If he has the same skills as me he will beat me with sheer experience.

To help I normally go to the student council room, at these times only occupied by its president, my friend Ryuudou Issei. I usually help him by fixing things, we talk a bit together, and spend some good time, and I'm planning to do the same today.

"Emiya?" I hear a feminine voice say from next to me. I turn my head, looking at she who called me out… and curse my luck. It's Tohsaka Rin, the perfect school idol, or as I figured out from yesterday, the secret magus and master in this war. If I could choose I would prefer not to see her today.

"Ah, what is it, Tohsaka? Do you need my help with something?" This is bad. The only reason I imagine her talking to me is that she saw me yesterday.

"Actually, yes. Do you remember what happened yesterday evening?"

!

Oh crap. Startled I take a step back, and I feel a few sweat drops running over my forehead.

"I'll take that as a yes." She steps towards me, looking slightly up to my face. "Don't worry, Emiya, I have no intention of silencing you by murder." At least that is something not bad. "Just a bit of hypnosis will do." Argh!

I try to run away, to prevent that from happening, but she catches me by surprise. She looks me in the eyes, and for some reason I find myself unable to do anything but submit.

…

I'm Shirou Emiya, 17 years old, currently in second year of high school. Yesterday I cleaned up the Archery hall, went home, ate, slept, woke up, ate breakfast with Sakura and Fuji-nee, and went to school. Right now I'm on the third floor, leaning against a wall, before going on my way to help Issei with the school's electrical devices, because the one special ability I have in my ordinary life is my talent as a mechanic.

Except that the above is complete bull. I know that I've been a magus and adopted son of one for ten years, which is everything except ordinary. Even me fixing machinery is simple a product of magecraft. So why am I thinking that I was an ordinary magecraftless person for only yesterday evening and today? And what's up with these strange red markings on my right hand?

I formulate a few possibilities, but one of them is the most obvious: memory manipulation. According to old man Kiritsugu that's one of the skills most magi learn so they have a non-violent solution in case a non-magi interrupts their business. I saw something I shouldn't have seen, and because the magi that I interrupted thought I was a normal person he or she decided to hypnotize me to make it like I never saw it.

It's no use simply thinking hard to try and remember. The prana from the magus lingering in my body prevents that. What I need to do is expel that energy, but that costs some time.

I first go to the student council room. I make an excuse that my head hurts because of a painful blunt force against it, and that I want to rest in the nurse room for the break. Issei, of course, has no problem with it, but hopes that I can come tomorrow if possible.

In the nursery room I explain my symptoms, and the nurse says I have a slight concussion, which actually fits quite well. She prepares a bed for me to rest in, and I put myself down on it, getting the advice to nap for a few hours.

Closing the curtains I start my magecraft: "Release Prana. Open neural gates." Softly whispering spellwords of suggestion I let the prana inside my body flow in a circular motion. Like a river that moves mud away from the source I try to expel the foreign prana from my body. It flows round in my body, the foreign prana slowly dissipating as I start to recover memories:

I am a participant in the Holy Grail war. I am joined by a servant, who is named… Cirno, yeah that's her name. These seals on my right hand are command seals, to either give absolute orders to my servant or temporarily boost her abilities. Today I've walked to school with Sakura, and had ridiculous thoughts about the reality of the current world. And the one who hypnotized me is Tohsaka Rin, the school idol. Does this mean she is a magus?

The events of yesterday are covered with more prana, which makes sense if the events I shouldn't have witnessed was yesterday. It's like a second layer of prana is protecting these thoughts. I slightly increase the speed of the circulation, and with great effect. I start remembering, beginning with the talk Cirno and I had about this war. The information streams into my head, but suddenly I feel pain in my neck, as a small blood vessel there pops. I return the circulation to my previous speed, the largest defense of yesterday's memories broken. Slowly even the last parts return.

Sharing ice cream with Cirno, the fight with the demonic skeleton warriors, that… thing with the gay servant, summoning my own servant, and finally, the battle I witnessed between two servants, with Tohsaka standing there as a master.

My memories fully restored, I realize that Tohsaka is my opponent in this war. However ,she thinks I'm a normal person. I should remember this for later events, it might be useful.

I stand up from the bed, open the curtains around it, and look at the clock. I have spent most of lunchbreak recovering my memories, but at least I'm still in time for the next set of classes.

The nurse comes over to me, asking how I feel. After hearing from me that I feel quite fine and want to rejoin classes she lets me rejoin without objections. She just leaves me with the advice to take it easy for the next two or three days. I almost want to apologize, knowing that I'll spend those days opposing the pinnacles of myths and legends in magical battles. She greets me off, and I return to my classroom, just in time for the next lesson.

Afternoon classes are just as boring as the morning classes. I honestly didn't expect anything less. I remember that I thought about whether or not this is a fictional world or not, but that's not important. Even if this world is fake I still experience it as real. No, the question is what I should do with this knowledge. If this really follows the rules of a b-rated anime show than the only reason classes exist is to give me a simple exposition on a certain subject that will help me gain knowledge about something that's actually important. To prevent it from being too long and boring these explanations are usually cut short to five minutes tops. Now the question is when it will happen so I can daze through the rest.

Let's see my schedule: right now I have Math, which will probably not help me. Then I have three more hours of English, History and… no, the last one doesn't matter. I'm almost completely sure that the useful knowledge will come out during History. After all, I'm in a war with legendary heroic spirits, who are people with their names marked in history. If my deductions are correct then one of my opponents will be discussed during History.

One long time of spend in a daze later, and enough time has passed for history classes to begin. Our English teacher leaves and after a minute he is replaced with our history teacher. His name is Kuzuki Souichirou, teaching in World History and Ethics. He is strict, austere, impersonal and emotionless, but he still manages to teach fairly.

"Class, today's lesson is about classical mythology." Okay, now I'm even more sure that this is going to be useful. So who is it going to be? Who are we getting taught about? Hercules? Perseus? "Open page 278 from your textbooks, I am going teach you about the Argonauts."

The Argonauts, huh? I quickly open my History book and look at the pages about the subject:

The Argonauts are the crew of the Argo, a ship build by shipwright Argus and blessed by the goddess Hera herself. They helped the captain of the ship, Jason, to find the legendary golden fleece. Does this mean that one of my opponents is Jason? It is certainly possible, ships can be summoned under the Rider class, making Jason a very plausible Rider. Or perhaps it is one of his crew?

I look at the list of all Argonauts, listed in chart three and four of the textbook: Acastus, Actor, Admetus, Aethalides, Amphiaraus, Amphidamas, Amphion, Amyrus, Ancaeus, Areius, Argus, another Argus, Ascalaphus, Asclepius, Asterion, Asterius, Atalanta, Augeas, Autolycus, Azorus, and that's just the crew whose name starts with the letter A!

"-It is considered to be the first massive crossover story. Almost every Greek hero of its time was part of the crew." I hear Kuzuki say, as I turn a bit sour inside. One of my opponents is a Greek. Considering the large amount of famous Greek heroes I wouldn't be surprised if half of my opponents is from that country! I even doubt that there has been a Grail war without Greek heroes!

I honestly didn't expect to gain the name of an enemy servant, but still, I can always hope for it. Perhaps Cirno has a better time finding out stuff about the enemy. Half-focused I continue with following the lessons, not really learning anything, and after two hours classes are finally over.

Talk to Shinji after school

School is finally over, which means that it is back to the Grail War for me. I don't have any club activities, so I can go to Cirno as quickly as possible and ask what she learned of our opponents. I quickly walk through the school's hallways, trying to get home as quickly as possible. There's no one that needs my help, nobody who I need to save, so I can finally do what I wa-

"Hey Emiya…" Damn it all! Why now! I look at the where I presume my caller stands, and see Shinji standing there.

Friend for at least a few years? Check. Current relations: a bit strained, mainly because he picks too much on his little sister, which I dislike. There's also the fact that he somewhat helped in me abstaining from rejoining the archery club, but I've forgiven him for that.

The only recent problem I have is that his last request almost killed me. Of course, I doubt that he knew that two servants would fight each other to the death on that night. Even though I have never done this before I'm afraid that if he asks me for another request I have to turn him off.

"Shinji, what do you want?" I turn to my friend, seeing him wielding a strange book in his hands. For some reason my body tenses, as if expecting a battle. I ready a command seal in my mind, just in case I need to summon my servant for something. "I have something I want to do tonight, and it would help if you wouldn't shove your request onto me."

"Oh, that's pretty unusual of you to say, Emiya. Although knowing you you would probably still do my request if I asked." Well, he has a point there. I've a pretty hard time saying no to the problems of others. Heck, Shinji even called me a fool for doing so when we first met, but he also complimented me on my way of doing things, which is something I do appreciate. As I said, my relationship is something in between 'friend' and 'makes me want to strangle him'.

"True, I would probably still accept. However, if you can do it yourself I would like you to do it yourself, your last request turned out to be deadly."

Shinji laughs, followed by a mocking "yeah, right." He finishes laughing after a few seconds, before giving me a creepy grin. "But is, by any chance, this thing you're going to do tonight scouting the city for servants, my dear fellow master?"

WHAT?!

He knows that I'm a master? I quickly glance at my hand, realizing that I should've covered it up. I probably was lucky that Tohsaka didn't see it.

I ready myself for a fight with Shinji. This guy in front of me claims to be the same as me, also a master, which means that his servant is probably nearby. I'm unarmed, see nothing that I can really use in my surroundings, and the best thing I can do is to make some distance and summon Cirno with a command seal. I set my left foot a step back, and am ready to set the second one back too, fleeing if needed.

"Don't worry, don't worry, Emiya. I'm not planning to fight right now." Good. I lose a bit of my tension, but I still keep my body in a fight-or-flight state. "It's the opposite. I just want to peacefully discuss some things with you."

"Discuss?" I ask, slightly puzzled. That's an actual possibility.

"Obviously." He replies calmly.

"Hmm…" There's no harm in discussing this matter with him.

"We should discuss this elsewhere." But I cannot do this here in the school hallways. There are too many people still around, and people can just sneak by.

Shinji agrees, and opens the nearby door to the chemistry lab. That's weird, it's completely empty even though the science club normally uses it at this time. "Shinji, did you?" He couldn't have killed them, did he?

"Of course not, idiot! I simply spread an official rumor that a slightly dangerous liquid was dropped in this room by accident, and that they have to wait until tomorrow before it can be entered again." Phew. I guess that these kind of tricks are just the magi kind of tricks. Hypnotizing, like Tohsaka uses; Or simply covering up the truth like Shinji. This war really is a secret thing, huh.

"Okay, Shinji. Let's hear what you have to say." I am willing to listen to his words. Now Shinji just need to show me a good reason.

"Yes, yes, I'll come to it. But first, Rider!" With the snap of his fingers Shinji summons his servant. Appearing out of thin air comes a tall woman with the most ridiculous hairstyle I've seen in my entire life: pink hair with length that goes beyond her feet. Clad in black leather clothes with purple tints and a purplish blindfold, even though I feel that blind like that she sees more than of her surroundings then people like me do. Her power is far beyond that of a normal human. Clearly she is a servant.

However, she still feels… off. Compared to the monstrous agility of Lancer, the feats of Caster's magecraft, the wide array of skills of Cirno; compared to them, she isn't an equal. Compared to them, she is a lesser being. The fear I have for the rest isn't nearly as big with her. Is she hiding her power, or is this the extend of Shinji's ability?

I see her bow down slightly for Shinji, addressing him as master. "So, you've summoned servant Rider, Shinji?" I ask to him, seeing how these two interact with each other.

"Indeed, Emiya. This my servant, the great Rider!" He laughs somewhat loudly, as Rider simply stands beside her master. "And, who did you summon?" He asks, wanting compensation for showing his servants.

"Saber." Another half-truth of mine, this one meant to not unsettle Shinji. Who knows what he might think when I tell him that my servant is classless and can take the form of nine other classes. "She looks like a ten year old, has blue hair, dressed in blue and tends to brag about how great she is."

"Tsk." He speaks with annoyance as his face turns from a cocky smile to an irritated gaze. "To think that you would pick the best class, Emiya. Damn it."

Best? "There are different ranks in classes?" This is the first I've heard of this. Did Cirno really forget to mention something that sounds as important as that? Although… knowing her she would simply say that she's the strongest and ignore class levels.

"You really don't know? Didn't you even do your homework before summoning your servant?" He says, both annoyed and amused by my ignorance.

"Apologies, Shinji, but I never really wanted to participate in the Grail War." It's true. I see no need to lie about this one. "I just summoned my servant so another wouldn't kill me."

"Aargh!" He screams out in frustration. "To think that someone like you gets the best class, someone who doesn't even know what he is doing." Well, sor-ry. I honestly start to get annoyed by these outlets of him. "But no matter." Quickly he turns back to his sophisticated jerk persona, and looks me in the face. "Let's return to business. First, would you mind to have an information exchange? If we both have more knowledge in the war we can give each other an edge above the other five, you see?"

Hmm… I cannot disagree with that. There's nothing wrong with simply exchanging information about the enemy masters and servant. However, that's not what I want. "I don't mind me telling you about the servants I encountered, but there are some other questions I'm more interested in. If you can answer those for me, I'll tell you what I know."

Shinji thinks hard about this, not sure what to answer on such a sudden change of this talk's direction. Rider seems to give some advice to Shinji by whispering something in his ear, but he seems to dismiss her strategies. "Okay, Emiya. I don't mind teaching you a bit, but under two conditions: No extremely revealing stuff, like the name or abilities of my servant, and you'll only get one question per servant you inform me about."

The terms are agreeable, so I do as told: "Sure. Let's start with the first servant, Lancer. I met him for the first time yesterday evening, where he was fighting against another servant, but not mine. He's a man with blue hair and in blue body thighs. He wields a red spear with utmost precision. He tried to kill me after I accidentally interrupted the fight, and that's when I summoned my own servant. He eventually fled after a fourth servant joined in. This one made Lancer flee, although that was by Lancer's own volition. His most dangerous abilities are his speed and precision." He nods, taking it all in. "Now my first question; Why do you want the Grail?"

The most important question. I want to know why he is driven to fight for an omnipotent wishing machine. Something like ten years ago must be prevented at all costs. With open ears I listen to his answer: "Emiya, if you know even a bit of the history of the war, which I doubt, then you should know that my family is a prestigious magus family that is one of the founders of the Grail we're fighting for. However, we've been in a decline of power ever since, and the latest successor, me, can only barely be called a magus. I want to use the grail to restore my family to its original glory by granting me an extreme number of magic circuits. Second servant, Shirou."

I find his reasoning… not wrong. It's not heroic, but it isn't evil either. It's a neutral wish, only involving his own improvement, so I can accept that as a wish upon the grail.

"Servant Caster. Unable to be mistaken for someone else, she's the only person in this age to still wear a heavy, cloaked robe. She stands at the pinnacle of magecraft. Summoning a hundred battle-hardened and armed skeleton warriors is something she can do with the back of the hand. When we met she wasn't that interested in fighting, simply leaving after calling up those fighters." I explained all about the second servant, so now I get to ask my second question: "So, how about you explain that stuff about servant classes you were going on about earlier?"

"Sure, sure:" He says with small glee, which always happens when you stroke his ego. "You know the seven classes, right?" I nod. "Good, that makes it easier to explain. Saber, Lancer and Archer. These three were the first classes to be designed 200 years ago, one for each of the founding family. However, there needed to be a total of seven servants, so they had to create four more servants. Because the founders want to win they made the other four weaker, but not too much lest there are no others willing to join in. Saber was meant to portray the stalwart knight, Lancer the swift footsoldier, and Archer the long-ranged sniper. All three have good one-on-one combat abilities and good Noble Phantasms, and they have mastered their weapon to the utmost limit."

"I see, and what about the other four?"

"Riders, like mine, have high speed and strong Noble Phantasms, but they're not so well versed in close combat, relying more on their most powerful attacks. Caster is the ultimate magus," obviously, "but severely hindered in ability because the three knight classes have some form of Magic Resistance. Assassin is skilled at killing the enemy masters with swift attacks, but would lose to a normal servant in a duel. Berserker is the most powerful servant, but he has no intelligence of its own, costs a lot of prana, and is very weak to the magic of Caster. In other words, the knight classes have far less exploitable weaknesses than the other three."

"Ah…" I never really thought about it, but there seems to be quite a story behind it. "Anyways, the third servant: Clad in red and black, this white-hared servant fought Lancer at the schoolyard. He dual-wields Chinese shortswords, but I don't know what class he exactly is. However, his master is Tohsaka Rin."

"Tohsaka huh? At least we know what her servant looks like."

"Hold on, do you mean to say that you know she is a master in this war?"

"Of course she is! The three founding families are Matou, Tohsaka and Von Einzbern. These three are forced to participate every time a war happens. She's the only one of whom I was sure to be an enemy in the war."

"So she should know that you're an enemy too, right?" He nods, claiming that they're both aware of the fact that they are their enemy. "Okay then, my question I-"

"What are you talking about, Emiya? I just answered two of you." Oh, you son of a bitch! I look at his face, realizing that he made me play into his trap. "So that means you owe me a servant. You'll get the next question after giving me your info about the last two servants."

Hmph. I smile a bit cockily. He hasn't realized yet that he dug his own grave: "Other two servants: not yet met." He looks in horror at me, realizing his mistake. I smile at him, and he start to almost growl like a wild lion. "So, time for you to answer my last question, Shinji."

"Y-Y-You!" He stutters, like he usually does when he has his momentum shaken off, "Did you just trick me? Did Emiya Shirou of all people just trick me?" Yes, apparently I did.

"I'm sorry, Shinji, but I'm only answering that question if I also get to have another question." He shouts out his frustration, and do I see his servant… smiling? Hmm, I think their relationship is a bit strangled if she likes her master's agony. "Anyway, my last question: Is Sakura involved in this war?"

Shinji, having heard the last question, straightens himself like his outburst never happened and calmly answers: "Of course not. Don't you know that only the firstborn child inherits the magic crest from his parents? Every child after the first is simply excluded from all magecraft practice and lives a normal, ignorant and blissful life." Good. I don't want to see Sakura tangled up in this mess. Having her over during the war is the maximum I can involve her with this.

Now that I'm out of info to give and questions to ask, I take a step back. "Thanks, Shinji." Even if he's a jerk, this was a pretty good idea. I've lost some of my worries, gained a few bits of new info, and Cirno is probably going to be happy with this. So now that this exchange is over I can go.

"Hold on, Emiya, there's one last question from me." He says, somehow still wanting more. But what can I give, and more importantly, what do I want?

"Sorry, Shinji, but I've no more questions. Perhaps later we can exchange information again."

"This is not about exchanging information, Emiya." He speaks to me… seriously? Only once, maybe twice, have I heard him speak somewhat seriously. "I want to make an alliance with you."

Just like when I found out he is a master, "WHAT?!"

Did I just speak that out loud?

"An alliance! We're perfect allies." Shnji starts to explain, giving his reason for why the two of us are a perfect combinaiton. "I have the wisdom of a magus, but lack the circuits. You have the circuits, but lack the knowledge. What's more, my Rider's speed combined with your Saber's strength makes for an incredibly powerful force! We defeat the other five and then have our two servants duke it out for the finals! That way either one of us will have his noble goal fulfilled!" He reaches me the hand, hoping for a deal. But what should I do? What are my options?

I think it all over, and only one thing comes to mind: that is to…

 **A) Join Shinji**

 **B) Punch Shinji - go to page 63**

 **C) Kill Shinji**

-Page 50 end-


	4. Page 63

**-Page 50 B) Punch Shinji-**

I cannot accept his terms. Shinji may offer good reasons, but at heart he is not someone I agree with. This is someone who shirks responsibility and most importantly hits his sister. These are some things I have a hard time forgiving.

I walk to him, but swat his stretched out hand out of my way before uppercutting Shinji below the chin. He flies a few feet in the air, but I have no intention to let him drop quietly. I twist my body so my other fist comes up above his head. Using the power and momentum of the twist I punch Shinji face first into the ground, the ground cracking beneath his face.

"This is to repay you for all the times you punched Sakura, Shinji!" I normally don't become angered, but for Shinji I'll make a single exception. I guess that our relationship is now very, very constrained.

Shinji's body twitches a bit, but he becomes still very quickly. I calm myself down, trying to regain focus. "Sorry, Shinji, but I just don't like your type."

I feel slight bloodlust coming from next to Shinji, and see an expressionless Rider look at me. Simply seeing her face tells me that if I take any action against her or try to flee she will hunt me down.

She kneels down beside her master, turning him on his back. Shinji looks a bit shaken from my assault, his only visible external injury being his broken nose. His face is bruised and blue, a complete reversal of his normal handsome exterior. I don't know what internal injuries he has, but if I had to guess I would say a broken jaw and mild concussion.

"He's not in any life-threatening danger." Rider remarks stoically. She finishes observing him and turns to me. She's not reacting on a servant's instinct. She's looking at me with analytical precision, ready to eliminate me if I perform an abnormality.

I simply stand there, meeting her gaze. For a time that seems like eternity we stand like this, but suddenly the tension drops.

"Go."

What I hear surprises me greatly. "Go?" Does she mean that. Is this not a trick?

"Go. His punishment has been dealt, and you hold no more hostile intent against him for the moment." I refocus myself, and notice that my entire body has been busy with escaping from Rider alive. My entire body relaxes at once, turning into a state of non-action, pure nothingness. But my mind is still on alert, in case Rider might lie to me. So do I trust her or not. I spend thinking for a few seconds before choosing:

"Then…" I make the difficult choice. I decide to trust Rider. I turn my back to her, and thank her for this opportunity.

"No…" I hear her speaking, emotion for the first time intertwined with her words. Slight tones of happiness are hearable in between syllables, a faint image that she is really happy about something. "…I need to thank you." I do not know what I've done to garner any thanks, but pleasure fills my soul. Even if it is an illogical thanks from a half-dead being, her slight happiness and thanks make me feel as if I just saved a city.

"Leave before Shinji wakes up." I listen to her advice, her hints of happiness gone. "Next time we meet, it is as enemies." Those last words break my new-gained joy, snapping me out of my own satisfaction. I nod once and move outside, of the chemistry lab. Quickly exiting school grounds I return to the meeting point with Cirno.

The place we meet is Fuyuki Central Park. Originally the Fuyuki Civic Center, it was completely destroyed during the Fuyuki fire of ten years ago, along with the surrounding area. Because it was cheaper to relocate the building rather than rebuilding it, the area where it once stood has been reformed to a park. Even though it lies in the center of the right half of the city and has been organized well, it's background leaves it completely empty with almost no visitors.

I don't like coming here. The grudges of those who died ten years ago still exist, even a third-rate magi like me feels somewhat pressured by the strong negative emotions. A first-rate magus would probably be paralyzed from the evil leftovers, and even spirits like the servants will probably receive a rank down in this place. The only protection that spirits can have is mental armor, something that my servant luckily possesses.

There's probably not a single master or servant interested in making this location their base. Not even one in a hundred master-servant combinations will be able to use this place to their advantage, and we are one of the exceptions. Cirno is right, this is a great meeting spot. I have to give credit to my servant, she managed to successfully turn a skill like Mental Disorder to her advantage.

I walk to the center of the park, where I find my servant next to a half-frozen lake. Next to her are a few clumps of ice, and Cirno seems to be making more of them. "Cirno, what are you doing?" Intrigued by my servant I let the question slip out of my mouth, disrupting my servant's concentration.

With a loud snap the ice clump Cirno is working on grows extremely fast before snapping apart, with a red liquid coloring the shards. Sighing she turns to me, explaining what she does: "I'm busy freezing the minions of my rival, the evil frog goddess!"

"Frog Goddess?" A new mention of my servant's history, telling of someone important in her life. I can only repeat the title of this rival, but Cirno seems in the mood to tell me more about it.

"Yes, the frog goddess, my fated rival! Goddess of earth and mountains, wielder of the finest steel, protector of the frogs, lord of subordinate curse gods; truly a person meant to be the rival of the strongest!" There is no hint of lying nor fear. This is a person who fearlessly fights Gods. A person who after being summoned as a servant will have a massive rank in bravery. Someone who can face anything without fear. "She even managed to pull a few narrow victories against me, even though I am the strongest."

Cirno admitting she lost? I'm starting to fear that the world might end today. Please tell me I'm wrong. "But don't worry, Shirou. She only won because she has more control over her powers, that's all. There's still nothing that can compare to me in pure strength!" Thank you, Cirno.

"So is this some sort of revenge?" If it is, then it is incredibly petty, even for her.

"Of course not! This is training!" Training? What kind of power can she gain from freezing normal frogs? "I lost because of my lesser control over my powers. Therefore I need to control my powers to miniscule levels. I train this by freezing a frog while keeping it alive, using only a minimum of my awesome power!"

"In other words, you use your own prana to influence the animal without trying to overload it?"

She thinks about it for a bit, taking quite long to answer the question. "Uhm… yes… I guess?" she answers hesitantly. But no matter. I think I have a new training method.

I sit down next to my servant and pick a frog from the lakeside. I place my hand on it as I start my magecraft:

"haa…" I stretch out, adjusting my breathing and emptying my mind, only paying attention on what is inside me. "Trace, on." Hypnotizing myself, I murmur the spellwords that I've long accustomed to. My father didn't leave me his magic crest, and I have no magic circuits I know of. To let the magical energy pass through this body I'm inserting a burning steel body in my backbone. Through this magical circuit I prepared the magical energy in my body will flow and succeed the magecraft.

Magecraft works by releasing the magical energy I filtered from the world through my makeshift magic circuit. "Haa…haa…" I need to control my breathing. If I lose control here the magical rod will eat away my body. Focus on breathing, and let the steel rod sink into my backbone.

Almost one hour. It takes me that long to produce one artificial magic circuit. The frog in my hand has long given up escaping, and now sleeps in my hand. "Basic structure, analyze." I can only perform one type of magic: strengthening objects beyond their normal abilities. First I analyze the structure, in this case the frog. Form, temperature, inside organs, magical energy; A complete blueprint of this animal forms into my mind. Now to alter that organism:

"Basic structure, alter." Channeling energy into the frog, reinforcing its body to levels beyond common sense. This would usually be like giving poison to this frog. Just like the blood of myself and the blood of this frog are different so are our magical energies. The frog will normally reject this kind of energy, which will only lead to its downfall. To prevent this from happening I need to exactly know the structure of this frog and channel the energy into the small open spaces.

"Composition, reinforce." This skill, which is child's play for an official magus, is as hard for me as shooting a target hundreds of meters away. While I have no problem hitting my targets at normal range, this is still four times more difficult then what I'm used to.

Slowly I administer the energy to the frog. Control the flow, don't let it overflow. Stay in command of it, keep analyzing it until the frog is filled.

Fifty percent… seventy-five percent… ninety percent… As I reach the limit that this frog allows I continue decelerating the speed of the flow, slowly bringing it to zero. Ninety-five… ninety-eight… ninety-nine…

Almost there!

"Composition, finalize." The last units of prana are inserted. The limit is almost reached.

In three seconds… two, one… finish!

The burning pillar in my backbone disappears, and my lungs stretch, demanding air. Rapidly inhaling air I fall back, recovering from my magecraft. I look at the frog, whose awake body now escapes from its kidnapper. Instead of hopping away like a normal frog it jumps several meters in the air, its legs aided by my magecraft.

It's a success. My magecraft… it's a success!

Then Cirno freezes the frog, which causes the still unstable concentration of prana in the frog to explode. And there goes my success…

"Finally finished?" I realize that I made Cirno wait for more than an hour while I was performing my magic. I apologize for this, but looking at the ice castle behind her I would say she'd been busy with her things.

Leaving the training behind us we move on to the reason for gathering: a strategy meeting. Cirno turns into her scholar form, the red-rimmed glasses appearing on her face. She looks to suffer a bit, her stats receiving a degradation of her stats. Even so she continues, her statistical power not really mattering. Scholar's weapon, her mind, is not affected by this place. She pulls out a map she took with her when she left our residence and folds it open, showing a map of the city.

"Let's first review what we know." Cirno asks for a marker, which I take from my school bag and give it to her. She draws circles on the map, one in the north-left of the map, giving it the name S9. From its location I determine that it's our home. "Shirou, do you know where the Tohsaka live?"

She asks for the other pair we already determined before today, and although I have never been there I did hear her address once: "3-13-3, Kitano-cho." We look up the location of said house on the map, and after finding it Cirno encircles it, giving it the name T3.

Cirno then asks me about what I discovered today. I tell her all about Shinji and Rider, about how he approached me, our exchange of information, his offer, and my reaction to said offer. She asks me where Shinji resides, and I point to its location on the map…

…which is less than a minute walking away from the Tohsaka mansion. It's funny that I never noticed that before.

"So these two will probably vie for control of southern Miyama. Any ideas who will win?" I go over the rather limited knowledge I have of the two servants.

"Shinji will lose that fight." I've known Shinji for a long time, having spent a long time with his conceit and vain personality. He lacks the power to back up his claims, constantly overestimating himself. Even if Shinji's servant is better than Tohsaka's, she has the absolute advantage in wisdom, strategy and probably also magic circuits, if Shinji's downfall is to be believed. Sakura… I believe she can safely stay at the Matou manor. From my interactions with Rin she is the type of person who will not hurt needlessly, and the Heroic Spirit… I'll assume that it lives up to its name as a hero.

"Okay, but let's just assume that if they're going to fight only one will survive, meaning that there's one powerhouse to the south." She then circles two other places on the map, places that I know as the Ryuudou temple and the Fuyuki church. "There are also servants around these places. It makes sense, these ae two of the four areas in the city where the cities leylines cross."

"Leylines?" My knowledge of theoretical magecraft is close to nil, but this is a good chance to learn more.

"Basically the magic circuits of the earth, and quite often used by magi to draw mana from the earth." Cirno takes my bag and pulls a different colored marker out, and starts drawing four slightly winding lines. These places cross at four different places: Ryuudou temple, Fuyuki Church, Tohsaka's house and the park where we're currently standing. Then these must be the places where the ley lines cross, and also where servants are most likely to make their stronghold.

But those four places are not the only interesting ones on the map. One of the lines runs straight through my house, and another goes through the Matou manor. "Does this mean that all masters have their hideout on one of the lines?"

"It's not wrong to assume that the bases of the masters hiding in Fuyuki are somewhere on this line. It's a pretty advantageous position." She points to the two points she discovered, claiming that there's something special about both of them. "First of all, the church is deemed neutral ground for this war, and a place to go to for masters who lost their servant in the war and forfeit their right of participating. I don't know why that servant is camping out near the church, but that doesn't matter. Don't go near that place alone, Shirou." I never intended to.

"For the temple… I can feel multiple servants there, of which one is without a doubt Caster. There's no doubt that the strongest can beat them even together, but I don't want to recklessly charge in. There's also the problem that there's a powerful anti-servant barrier around the place, preventing me from entering through any way except the front door, which doesn't have those enchantments."

It's breaking into a fortress. The only options are enough firepower to destroy the fortress, enough wisdom to plan a way through it or enough luck to win the total battle. As we are now, we cannot win from them.

"But I can bypass the fortress' defenses if I use my Caster form. However, it's restriction is rather annoying." I listen with opened ears, wanting to know more about my servant. "It has the ability to mess with her border, but I have to spend nine hours in base form. However, breaking Caster's barrier will be totally worth it."

"So when do you plan to fight, Cirno?"

"Tomorrow, very early in the morning, we'll strike them, then and there."

No. That's not possible. "There are monks living at that temple. They'll probably wake up quite early for some sort of morning ritual-"

"Shirou." Cirno turns ice cold, her reply being short, precise and clear: "Those monks have probably already been turned into pawns for Caster's schemes. A strong magus like her will probably use others like those monks as half-dead prana batteries."

"No…" Even more people that I cannot save. Why am I so powerless… "In that case…" There's only one option. I will free those monks. If Caster really made them her slaves then I will free them. "Let's commence the attack tonight. That's our strategy for today."

Cirno nods to my proposal, but does ask the question of what we're going to do with the rest of the time.

"For now, let's just do some things you want. I guess that there's something out there that will interest you."

"In other words, a date?"

"N-No!" What are you talking about, Cirno? "It's just me showing you around Fuyuki. Besides, I'm not a lolicon."

"Tsk, picked the wrong route…" Cirno mutters under her breath. She still has those moments that I don't understand what she is talking about. Is this what they call transcended intelligence?

But no matter, whatever Cirno is or becomes, she stays a friend of mine. We stand up, with me preparing to show her around town.

When we arrive at Fuyuki Central station I look at the clock and see that it's already past six… which means that within an hour Sakura will have dinner ready at home, leaving little time for me and Cirno to explore the city. So I decide to show her the shopping district where I usually go to buy the ingredients for my cooking. We walk through the city, over the big bridge connecting the two parts of the city, over the road separating the western and eastern-styled houses, and over the hill that contains all the shops.

Cirno walks through the district like a child set loose in a candy store. She goes though almost every store, looking at the wares displayed, and sometimes getting free stuff from the owners. It's one of the advantages of being a cute kid, it usually leads to free stuff from gentle people.

I try to stay somewhat close to her, trying not to get her out of my sight. The people in the district quickly make the connection between us, realizing that we are together. Some of the store clerks with whom I am somewhat close ask me about her, to which I reply that she is a relative of my late old man. The people accept it as the truth, asking me to take good care of that girl. A few ask me what those wings on her back are, but only the younger generations do. The older ones accept it as some sort of modern fancy-pancy accessory that kids these days wear way too much. It's as good as any excuse so I tell the same things to the younger people who ask more questions than needed.

The main advantage of shopping with a young girl is that people tend to give me small extras for her sake, which I gratefully accept. Less money spend on food means more money for magecraft materials.

I look somewhat in the distance, and I feel the same vibe from over there as that we have. Is someone else performing the same strategy as us?

"Huh?" The other person who is employing this cuteness strategy is now visible before my eyes. A young girl with silver-white hair and red eyes, who looks at me as if she stands above me. Without realizing I hold my breath, and my body tenses. Cirno notices her too, and suddenly stands in front of me.

"So you finally summoned one too, Onii-chan." She says as she walks past me, the last two words spoken like a mockery. She turns around, looking at me in a playful manner. "But she looks kind of weak. Although that's only natural, there's nobody who can be called strong compared to the strongest serva-"

An icicle spear meant to harm shoots out from Cirno and tries to impale this girl, who only barely dodges it. "You'll regret boasting like that when you get cryo-freezed by the real strongest, little girl." Her voice contains pure malice, I don't even dare to disrupt her and point out that she's a little girl too.

I step back a step before I know it, and it seems that most other shoppers seem to follow my example and move away from the cuttable tension in the air.

"Calm down, Berserker." The girl says as the bloodlust around her completely disappears. It's incredible. With her servant simply standing by there is absolutely no hostile intent from this girl. She does not even consider us threats. "While I would like to play with you, Onii-chan, I'm afraid that it's a bit too crowded here. Perhaps I'll make a visit in the next few days." She twirls around, as if Cirno doesn't existand is not threatening her at all. "Or if you want, you can come to my place. It's the big castle in the forest outside town, it's pretty hard to miss." She walks away, still completely ignoring Cirno. "See you later, Onii-chan. Try not to die with your weak servant before then!" I blink once, and she's gone. I look at my servant, who is quite pissed.

"That bitch…" She is angered, the air around us quickly dropping to level of perfect freezing. Even though it becomes unreasonably cold, I don't feel it as much around me as that the solid air around me seems to be. Cirno lets out a dissatisfied grunt, and the solid air becomes normal once more. "Stupid girl." She turns to me, a smirk on her face that doesn't fit her angry eyes. "Don't worry, Shirou. A weakling like her has to resort to psychological warfare or tiny advantages like home base. There's no need to fear that girl and her weakling Berserker, even if they act like they are stronger. Believe in the you that believes in me, and it will be all right."

I guess she's right. I do not know the servant of this girl. It's strength may be low, or it may be enormous. But I have seen Cirno in action, and I know that she's amazing. So I will trust her. I trust that she will be able to win; that she will be able to help me become a hero of justice; that we will fulfill our dreams. I put my trust in my servant, so I have nothing to fear. The only weakness I have to overcome is myself.

"So Shirou, want to make a visit to the forest, or should we wait until she attacks us? I don't care, the outcome will be the same: zero for that girl, and nine for me. Perfect Fatality!"

I take the map out of the schoolbag and draw the last location on it, along with the information we already know: in the outskirts of Fuyuki, the forest area to be precise, lies a castle where a little girl and her Berserker made their residence. "No, we'll stick with the plan we made. I doubt she'll attack tonight, most likely she'll attack in a day or two. It will be nice if we at least rescue the temple's inhabitants before then."

"If you say so, Shirou." We've spend enough time in the shopping district, and Sakura probably has dinner ready. We go home, where we spend an uneventful evening. After Sakura leaves home I take a quick nap, sleeping for a few hours until it is time for our confrontation with Caster.

We leave home in the dead of night. Due to gas leaks and explosions, which I start to guess are actually cover-ups for servants doing evil things, nobody is out at night. This means that Cirno and I can do what we want to do without being noticed.

We arrive at the bottom of the stairs leading to Ryuudouji temple. However, that is not the entrance we want to take. We want to dispel the barrier surrounding this place, so we must enter from the back. Instead of taking the higher path we take the path around the mountain, making sure we're not seen.

After fifteen minutes we reach a good destination. Covered yet open enough that enemy attacks can be seen coming from a distance.

"Hey Shirou, how long has it been since we talked in the park?" I check my watch, and see that a little less than ten hours have passed since then. Cirno smirks, claiming that it is time for another facet of the strongest to prove her awesomeness.

And thus she transforms, to a form even I did not imagine. Gone is the cute kid, an adult woman now standing in her place.

Her aqua-colored hair has grown, reaching to beyond her waist. She reaches almost to my height, only a few centimeters being the difference between us. And even though her face still looks cute her body, and I cannot believe I'm saying this, beats Rider in the curves department.

Her clothes have also changed: She still wears a blue dress, albeit the decoration pattern on the bottom has changed to a combination of black and white. Instead of wearing a white blouse underneath the dress she wears a blue sleeveless top above it, with a silver necklace falling from her shoulders onto her ample bosom.

The greater part of her arms are covered in wide-falling black cloth with white edges, held together by a blue ribbon that gradates into yellow. Around her neck is a white muffler, wrapped twice around her with the edges falling down the back of her body. The only things she kept the same from her old form are the six ice wings on her back and the blue ribbon in her hair. This is how Cirno's Caster form looks like.

"Master, are you all right?" Cirno waves her hand in front of my face, snapping me out of staring at her new form.

"Y-yeah. I'm all right, Cirno. And even if your form changes you can still call me Shirou." She nods, before focusing on the barrier. She raises her hands and places them on the invisible barrier, magical energy flowing between the two. "And how are you planning to bypass this barrier, Cirno?"

"An enemy of mine used to say that 'magic is all about power, ze!'" Ze? "So I'll simply overload this barrier into oblivion." More magical energy flows from her body, and the barrier turns to ice, quickly spreading all over the temple. "Haaah!" With a final scream the entire barrier shatters into pieces, letting us proceed to attack the enemy. We start walking upwards, towards the temple at the top of the mountain.

We run, we run, we run. We look out for any persons who might try to start a fight, keeping caution while moving quickly. Eventually we reach the temple ground, where we meet a lone person stannhu dslf fj fsjfjh fjhadf jasdofj fafo diosdj aslkdfj sl dfjhj adjfh sadoi a lfj qwc qfx pknf sldjfh oqlvm jf pqox.

 _What's going on?_ T sdf qwer kvfj mdkc okemc je pbjd klpq cnedo qqw qw qwkd dvnef dfkn socd k. _My memories of this event are completely scrambled._ Jofc pwo v fn goks dfln dpogjdfjk dof slfkp nxe jkeodj dm rm eodfjsc okdm slm mckeo nso! _I know I entered the temple grounds… but after that…_

Jsk qwpoi lmnf pifjc wplj k djd kwdp kxjkjo mkp vjher jwk bnj gtui pq?! _Try to remember. There was this person… and then after that…_ djof wj kd girjo dn po dpicjnkdsj don jwdpokpo wdoije ron kjpq qiwdj oigj vncp piojef jkeh orij dbji pok gywuiq ,zlcvjodgj fl.

 _Something is dreadfully wrong with this lapse of knowledge. I should ask Cirno later._ Dfogh pkdj po shnjq pdfk ejkljsee Cirno standing there in the middle of the grounds, her breathing ragged and her body covered in quite the amount of wounds. I too, feel horrible. My throat burns, and my eyes sting painfully, I can barely open my eyes.

The battlefield around us is ruined: Ice covers a great part of the temple, covering buildings with a layer of it, or just some shards of ice stuck in random parts of the building. A thin layer of mist is left hanging around this place, but it dissolves quickly after noticing it. There is even a massive ice sword splitting one of the sheds in half. Of the opponent there is no trace left.

In front of us stands Caster, a grimace on her face as she both trash-talks and compliments Cirno: "You've performed well. I still cannot grasp how you managed to survive Assassin's insta-kill move, Sabe-, no, I cannot call you Saber. You were an obvious Saber, but in this battle you fought like a Caster. What exactly are you, servant?"

"Well…" Cirno says strained but much more polite then she was in any previous form, "I used to call myself the strongest, so you can call me that if you want. Another title I gained when I was shooting some bullets is Unnatural Chill, but I don't really associate with that."

"Hah." Caster lets out a small cackle. "Well then, lady of the unnatural chills, I must comment you on your fighting style. For a magus who only uses ice, you've managed to hold quite well against someone with natural advantages against you."

"I'm sorry, but who did I fight against?" Cirno asks to Caster, which shocks me. Not even Cirno remembers who she fought?

Caster simply smiles, claiming that "Assassin has a nifty ability that makes remembering it very hard." She isn't even giving away the gender of this servant, that's how much of a secret Assassin is. "While it isn't the servant I wanted to summon, it is still quite capable of defending this place."

Cirno and I simply look at Caster, who gives Assassin the order to stand back and only act against hostile actions.

"So, what do we do now, Ci-my Servant?" Caster does not want to give away any clues, So neither do I. Even so, the battle seems to have ended, which means that I need a new plan of action. I can retreat, but I still want to save the inhabitants of the temple.

"Well, I'm offering a special deal for you two." Instead of Cirno it is Caster who answers my question. "I really like people like you, boy. Your actions and words during the fight were interesting me. How you are trying to save others, and even taking blows for your much more durable servant. I like people as straightforward as you. And as for your servant… at least her Saber form is cute, so I'll tolerate her."

I take the compliment, but stay on guard. "So?" I still haven't heard her deal, which is the thing that worries me the most. "Cut to the chase."

"Straightforward as always, huh. Then let me tell it directly: Join forces with me. I have a way to end this war."

Oh? She interests me with this proposal. Ending this war and its pointless bloodshed is what I want the most, however: "How can I trust people like you who turn people into mindless puppets?"

"Hnn?" Caster looks at me, not knowing what I am talking about. "Mindless puppets? What are you talking about?" The words she speaks do not feel as lies, but I want to be sure. Sure that she is not responsible for all the deaths that have been appearing on TV during the last week.

"All those death on TV, and the monks at the temple that you keep under your control." I speak, hatred for the person who did that deed.

"The servant most likely to do that is Caster, considering how the prana was extracted from their body." Cirno adds to my reasoning, strengthening my argument.

Caster thinks about it before laughing it off. "It's true that I am a likely suspect, but I have no intention of needlessly harming others until they intend to harm me. Why don't you go and take a look: The monks here should still be peacefully sleeping, the worst that happened to them is a little mind alteration to accept me in here. When you look at them, try not to make too much noise, or you'll wake them up.

I ask Cirno to check on the inhabitants of the temple. She does as told, leaving me and Caster alone. I have time to ask a deciding question, one that will determine whether or not I will join Caster: "This plan of yours, to end the war. How will you accomplish my goal."

"Oh?" Caster asks with light sarcasm, "suddenly interested in my goal? That's unexpected."

"Don't cut the crap, Caster." I speak with tranquil fury, willing to fight her if the temple monks have been made into puppets. "If you're really good at heart, I don't mind joining you. However, I won't work together with random killers. So tell me your plan, Caster. If I like it and my servant brings back positive news, I will join you. So tell me your plan, Caster!"

With a chuckle she tells me of her plan: "Listen well, boy. What I'm telling you is something none of the other servants and not even the moderator knows." I stand alerted, knowing that the following information is key information: "Under this mountain is the greater grail located. It's what will eventually manifest the wish onto this world after gathering enough energy, and I did a bit of research on it. It turns out that it has been corrupted by all the evils in the world, Angra Mainyu."

"What?!" My world breaks apart as I learn that the thing I fought for will become a destructive force even in the hands of good. So if I stop the enemy and win the war, I lose, and if another person wins the Grail I also lose. Is there no solution for this dilemma?

"It's true. Manifesting the grail will probably destroy Fuyuki city, if not more. Of course, this only happens if it manifests. Although I do not care for its manifestation, the destruction of this city that will follow it goes against my wishes."

"Wishes?" I ask, wondering what a witch of ages before modern technology can want, although there is one more thing that doesn't settle with me: "And what do you mean with 'I don't care if the Grail manifests?"

"My wish is to spend time with my lovable master like a normal happy couple. If this city is destroyed then my master might die within the fire, and even if he survives he doesn't have the Greater Grail left to prepare the majority of the prana needed for my continuous materialization. Therefore, I need the Grail to keep existing without forming itself into reality." It is still unbelievable, the true form of the Grail. However, she still didn't answer why she didn't care about evil forming into the world, which I point out to her. She realizes this, and quickly gives her answer: "As for that, I blame the fact that my master summoned me with a Neutral Evil alignment. Our reactions to evil plans that do not hinder us are treated with an indifferent meh." Go figure, I thought that heroic spirits tend to be of at least neutral alignment.

I simply look Caster in the eye, annoyed by her words but not angered by them. She may be Neutral Evil. But she is still salvageable. She can still be saved! If only Cirno brings back good news. "Then Caster, how will you solve this problem?"

"To make a wish on the Grail at least five servant's energy needs to be returned to the Grail. To prevent the Grail from manifesting three or more servants need to be alive. There's me, there's Assassin, and there's your servant. If we combine our strengths and do not kill each other, then we can live peaceful and happy lives here in Fuyuki. Evil will not manifest upon the world, I get to spend fun days with my master, and even Assassin can get its wish fulfilled. How does that sound, boy? Is that not the perfect solution for this war?"

She has a point. She is without a doubt right. But that doesn't automatically mean she's correct. It's merely a superficial truth, one that can easily change into an illusion. If she is correct I'll gladly form an agreement with her. I do not know if I can trust her, but I'll find out soon enough, as Cirno returns from scouting the temple grounds.

"And, how is the situation?" I ask to my servant, eagerly waiting for an answer. Her answer strengthens the truth in Caster's words, making me believe her more and more.

"Fine then. I'll trust you for now, Caster. However, if you plot evil actions against the people of this city, I'll strike you down." I step forward, and reach out my hand to her. "But if you will work for good, then I'll join you."

Caster turns down her hood, revealing the face of a beautiful young woman with hair slightly darker than CIrno's and ears shaped like those of elves. She too stretches her hand out, firmly grabbing onto mine. Even though she has such a slender build her grip strength is far beyond that of an average human, easily capable of breaking my hand if she wants to.

But she doesn't. She has made terms that make me want to work together with her: Stop the manifestation of the Grail. Do not commit evil acts against the people of this city. Get both mine and her wishes fulfilled. Our views, even though they differ, overlap enough for a well-bonded corporation.

"Then on a good alliance, boy."

"Likewise, Caster."

 **Status Screen Improved!**

-Page 61 end-

If you've gotten here, congratulations! This mean that Shirou has successfully managed to live through the first two days. For those of you wondering why this is important… well, these two days are what decided which route you take. There are twelfe routes in total, now let's see which amazing route you lot have chosen:

Please imagine a drum roll, because I cannot make one…

Tadaa! You've landed on Route K: New Argonian Covenant!

Of course, your role isn't over. If you continue this route then the next 7-9 days will be spend trying to make Shirou survive and get one of the route's endings. While there are fifty possible good endings, you can only access five from this route. It would be unwise to give you all the possible routes, because spoilers. However, I if I give you no information about the possible endings you will lack the knowledge to wisely decide which route you want to follow. Therefore I will give two of the endings on every route, so you have a general idea of what to expect. For this route these are the following finishes:

-Caster Ending  
-Assassin Ending  
-?1?  
-?2?  
-?3?

Now about the route's structure: it is slightly different from the prologue. Of course, there's still you avoiding bad ends, but the story is much more narrowed down. However, this is the place where you gather love points for the endings. Certain choices in the story will give you love points for a character, and other choices require a level of love points to make the option available. Other important choices for an ending might not show up if you pick the wrong choices, so make sure to choose wisely!

Of course, you will miss quite a lot if you focus on this route. Certain epic scenes will not unfold on this route. Because we don't want to be too spoilery, I'm not that much of an ass, here are exactly two events which will not unfold on this route:

-Cirno, Shirou, Rin and Archer vs Berserker and Illya  
-Shirou, Kiritsugu's heritage and a lot of C4 vs Rin and the Tohsaka estate

So, what will you choose? Will you continue this route? Does it interest you? Or are you more interested in more exploration of different routes? In that case, please select a non-chosen route from the current available options and put it in the review. And don't forget that the same rules apply about who gets to choose the route!

 **A) Continue route K: New Argonian Covenant - Go to page K01.**

 **B) Select a new route – Go to page 1.**


	5. Page K01

**Route K: New Argonian covenant.**

-Page K01-

I retract my hand, and I continue to look at Caster. Our talk is finished, and if I don't say anything the mood will chance to awkward quickly. "So, Caster…" Is there something I've been forgetting? Oh yeah, one thing comes to mind, one important factor that hasn't been spoken about. "This master of yours, who is he?" Though I do not remember much, he hasn't appeared at all during our stay here. He didn't even have anything to say about the terms of our alliance. I'm starting to feel like Caster's master doesn't even have anything to say, as if he is only a puppet master.

"Oh, you're right." She mentions offhandedly, like she's talking about a bug. "I guess you would prefer to know all your allies. I've no problem showing you my master, but my own servant Assassin will hide in the shadows for a little while longer. Not even my master knows its true identity and form."

Cirno speaks up, a worried look on her face about Caster's words. "You summoned a servant? Caster, you broke the rules!" She points at our ally, her worry now replaced with anger.

Caster clicks her tongue, realizing that she slipped. "It's true, I summoned a servant. However, am I not a magus? Am I not someone practicing magecraft from the age of the Gods? Manipulating the Grail to select me as a master is child's play for someone like me. And it's all with good intentions at mind. After all, having an extra servant at my side makes it a little bit easier for me to prevent the grail from being summoned. I also need only one alliance instead of two this way."

Cirno and I look at each other, but our anger quickly goes away. There's still some distrust about this, but we can forgive her for this. After all, she does speak the truth.

"But enough about that subject. I believe you want to see my master." She pulls her hood up again, hiding her face in the shadows once more. "Now if you would please come out, my dear Souichirou."

Souichirou? There's only one person I know who has that name and lives on this hill. That person is a magus and a master? Cirno notices the surprise on my face, asking me who the master of Caster is. As he steps out of the dark, his face visible, he proofs my theory correct: "This person is my history teacher… Souichirou Kuzuki."

He walks over to Caster, standing a step in front of her and a bit to the right. He stays completely silent and lets Caster do the talking. He's only a little more silent then when he's teaching. Caster speaks up in his place. "It seems that you're acquainted with my master. That speeds things up a bit. Now, I would like to speak a bit longer with you, but neither my master nor you should be able to both keep up your appearances as normal law-abiding people and staying awake." She asks for my teacher to take 'that' out of the pocket, unknowing what she is talking about.

As Kuzuki moves over to me he takes a black obsidian sheet out of his inner pocket and hands it over to me. I perform structural grasp on it, determining the concept of the item:

It's a rectangle of smooth obsidian, with no other materials in it, sized to fit inside one's hand. The structure on the inside is abnormal, with many different crystallizations moving into one another, held together by prana foreign to my body. Its purpose, however, I cannot decipher. I want to ask about it, but Cirno beats me to the punch:

"Caster, what is this thing?"

Caster explains its purpose, how though resonance of the internal crystallized material it is possible to talk to one another over infinite distances if both parties have such a magical tool, pulling out her own slab of rock to reinforce her words. It's capable of speaking with someone even if they are at the other side of the world.

In other words, she reinvented the portable telephone. Maybe next time she will give me a magical book that contains as many books as a library, that way I don't need to buy myself a Digital Book. I briefly ponder if I should ask her about it before deciding that I don't really read all that much and probably don't need one.

"Thank you, Caster." I take some steps back, and say goodbyes. "You'll call me when we need to discuss something, right?"

She give me a nod, and a smile appears under her hood. Even though it is a chilling smile I lightly grin back, wondering if this Grail War isn't as bad as it seems.

Cirno and I walk down the stairs of the temple and go on our way home to get some sleep. Cirno changes out of her Caster form, returning to her origin.

"So… does this count as a win, Shirou? I'm somewhat conflicted…" She asks with worry as she jumps on my back. I slightly stumble from the sudden impact but I quickly walk right again, now with her hanging over my shoulder. " I mean, I know the strongest always wins, but this time it feels slightly wrong."

"Win… if we manage to stop the manifestation of the Grail thanks to Caster's help then yes, this was a win. However, it's Assassin I'm worried about. Do you remember anything about you fighting it?"

She thinks about it, but there's nothing to remember, even for her. Neither of us have any memories left of the fight. Only the state of the area before and after the battle is left, the rest is a scramble that I'll never remember, no matter how hard I try to recover those memories.

"I thought so." That means that Assassin, even as our ally, might become the most dangerous enemy in this war. "Remember what Caster said about it, other than its ability to make people forget they fought with it?"

"Uhm…" My strongest servant thinks, but has no answer. So I tell her about what has been bothering me:

"Caster said that Assassin holds natural advantages against you, and I doubt that her ability to make us forget the battle is such an advantage."

"Hah, if I were to be beaten by something as simple as type advantages I would never have become the strongest. Besides, even if they are resistant against my ice I can simply switch forms to counter that." She claims with full confidence, not even making a suggestion that she is lying.

Counter? "You mean to say that you have even a form for that?"

"Yep. My eight form, Inverter, is perfect for dealing with those pesky people that do not die quick enough from my all-powerful ice. So even if that is the advantage the old lady is talking about, I'll still easily win. It's pathetic to think that the strongest will be beaten by something as lowly as the Assassin class!"

"If you say so, Cirno." Although I cannot find myself in her calling Caster an old lady, and I tell Cirno not to call her that from now on.

She pouts, claiming that she can say what she wants. She then turns red and quickly looks away, muttering a few words: "If you insist…"

"Don't worry about it. But on another note, what do you think about this alliance, Cirno?" I want to know about my own servant too, wanting to know if she shares my opinion.

"I don't care, and I probably never will. At least you decided to ally with the weakest servants, that means that I can spend all my time on the stronger ones. So if anything I think that you made the alliance with the best possible servants."

"You honestly don't care?" I know that my servant is somewhat of a braggart, and in this form not really caring about much beyond being the strongest, but to think that a legendary spirit like her doesn't care about strategy at all. Even among heroes she's a real weird one.

Cirno simply laughs, laughter that dims out as she let out a big yawn. "Well, I'll just beat up the baddies. You can determine in what order I'll cryo-freeze them. But for noooow…" She falls asleep on my back, only her breathing indicating that she's still alive.

Sleeping like this she doesn't feel like a servant, just like a young girl. But that's okay. I will make sure that she can live a normal life to her heart's content.

Cirno. Caster. Assassin. Kuzuki. Tohsaka. Shinji. And the other two human masters too: I'll make sure that they all make it through the war alive. Someone like me, who only lives because others die… I'll make sure that this time everybody lives. I'll make sure that the Grail will not come to fruition. Even if it costs my own life.

I lift Cirno back to my own house, where I simply place her on a futon in one of the guest rooms before falling asleep myself. It's been a tiring day, so some rest is welcome. I fall on my bed, and I drift off into dreams.

The next morning I wake up, having another dreamless night behind me. I switch from yesterday's clothes to my school uniform and go to Cirno's room, where my servant is sleeping.

"Oi, Cirno, wake up." No response. She keeps sleeping as if there's not a care in the world. "Hey Cirno, wake up!" I nudge her lightly, but she still continues sleeping.

Waking others up is not my strong point. I go to bed alone and in the morning I usually wake up alone and if that doesn't work I have Sakura and Fuji-nee to wake me. Perhaps I should wait for those two to arrive, they can wake her up while I prepare breakfast. After all, if I don't move to the kitchen now I will absolutely lose the lofty job of breakfast chef to Sakura.

There's enough in house to prepare standard English breakfast for four, and considering the time I should start cooking it. Eggs, bacon, beans, sausages, white pudding, soda bread, toast and tea; with the skill of a professional chef I prepare the food. There is one thing that I really pride myself on, and that is my cooking skills. Even if all else fails I will still make it through using that.

Time flies as I cook, and before I realize the two women have entered my house. They enter the living room, greeting me while I'm cooking. I ask Sakura to wake Cirno up, who does so with pleasure.

From the corners of my eyes I see Fuji-nee following Sakura to Cirno's quarters. That's going to be a rough wake-up.

Thirty seconds later and my hunch proves correct. A loud voice booms through the house as the queen of the Asian grasslands loudly shouts the name of her finishing move: "Tiger Feint Kick!" The only sound to beat hers is that of my servant loudly screaming in pain, the sound causing my house to shudder in fear from the legendary heroine. But even so I continue cooking, making sure that food will be ready soon so that that duo can make up though their equally hungry stomachs.

From the inner yard I hear a tiger being hunted, who in turn is playing with her hunter. Fuji-nee is surprisingly able to keep up with Cirno, even in her base form. Sakura has apparently had enough from the two of them playing so she starts preparing the table while casually chatting with me:

"Good morning, Sempai. Did you sleep well?" I try to convince Sakura that I've slept enough, but my own body betrays me as I let out my lack of sleep in the form of a yawn. Sakura looks at me with slight anger, not happy that I once again stayed up late for my training, which is an excuse I won't bother to change. She scolds me lightly, telling me that I should care more for my own health. I should follow her advice after I'm done with all this Grail war stuff.

"A-Anyways, Sakura, how is it going with Shinji?" I ask her about her brother, and with a slightly pained expression she tells him that he's a bit angry at me, threatening to kill me for breaking his nose. He even wants her not to visit me, but Sakura is brave enough to go to my house, which is a good improvement from how she was two years ago when I first met her. "Yes, that was an unfortunate accident. I should go and apologize somewhere in the future." Preferably after his servant Rider has been dealt with. "Anyway, food is ready, can you help me carry it to the table?"

The two of us take the food towards the dinner table, and I go outside to call the two playing their game of tag. Upon haring me shout that breakfast's ready they turn towards each other, as if confirming their unanimous thoughts.

"Food!" The two shout in unison before sprinting towards the dinner table. Breaking sprinting world records on their way to the table the duo sit down, both licking their lips in anticipation. After saying our thanks for the food the two wolf down their share of the food, as Sakura and I simply look in slight amazement at their eating skill. If the Grail has a class container for servant Eater, these two will probably fit the criteria.

Making a mental note here, I have the right to smugly say "I knew it!" in case Cirno actually has a form based on her ability to eat… even if it is probably useless in battle.

Sakura and I avert our focus from the other two present and simply eat our food while casually chatting about ordinary stuff. I'm glad that even in this whole war mess there's still someone to whom I can talk about such normal stuff. Sakura, a very simple and normal girl who has nothing to do with magecraft… I'm glad that she's entered my life, as my dear friend. With no romantic subcontext. Yep, zero love. Absolutely.

 **(It is now impossible to gain Sakura Love Points on this Route.)**

Once again those weird words pop up in the lower right of my screen, but I pay them no mind, because I don't care anymore about these strange words. Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. As expected, after a few seconds the words go away, letting me continue to eat.

When I'm almost done with dinner I feel something in my pants vibrate. I can easily guess what it is, Caster's magical phone. I ask to others for a brief leave and answer the phone in the entrance hall.

Pulling the slab of rock out of my pocket I notice a big red circle on one side of the rock. Pressing the circle reveals a blueish image of the face of Caster, who then starts talking to me:

"Good morning, boy. Did you sleep well?" Caster's lips move, the image probably showing her from the top of the mountain temple.

"Good enough, Caster, but that's probably not what you call for." Either there's a problem or a request. I personally hope that it is the latter, because that means I can do something for her to help her.

"Correct. If my hypothesis is correct then your little servant is capable of switching class containers. I don't know which land's hero has such a thing in her legend, but that's not important. There are simply a few types of magic I want to figure out, and I believe that two Casters will make more headway in it than one."

So she wants a research agreement. "That's not something I mind, but there's a few problems that we'll run into. First of all, there's a cool-down period on every form that's usable. Her Caster form can only be used after nine hours spending time in her base form. She'll stay in that form for at least until noon."

"So she'll stay in that cute form for so long? Oh my, I didn't expect that! I need to get the goth loli clothes, the meido, sailor fuku-" And she continue rambling on about stuff I do not understand. The face on the rock starts to get blurry, as if she is moving through her house looking for things. Half a minute of searching later she coughs, and returns her attention to me. "Anyhow, that's not a problem. What are the other problems?"

"There's just one. There are two other masters at school, of which one knows that I am a master and he is very likely to attack me on sight. The other is not aware of my existence as a master, but might cause more irritation, and there's also the possibility of a fifth pair attending Homurahara high. Can Assassin at least come with us to protect us at school?"

"Impossible." What? Is Caster withholding something? "Due to Assassin being summoned by another servant there's a small issue where it's unable to leave the place it receives prana from, in its case the temple grounds. However, my dear master has been magically enhanced by me so that he's easily capable of fighting against another servant on a fair level. If you simply drop your little servant off here in the morning I'll have Kuzuki wait for you until you get here, along with little glasses-in-law." She says her goodbye and hangs up. Glasses in law? Is she talking about… nah, that can't be right.

I return to the living room, where I tell a slightly altered version of what transpired: As discussed before Cirno will stay today with Caster (Which for some reason both Sakura and Fuji-nee accept as a totally legit European name), who is Kuzuki's fiancé. As repayment I will go to their place after school to fix some broken equipment. The last is a part I added myself.

The female tiger looks at me with a somewhat tired face, proclaiming that I'm way too nice and should focus more on what I want myself. Which is somewhat strange to say, considering that wanting to help others is my goal, even if it is something as simple as this.

But even so they accept it as me being me, even Cirno not saying anything about it… although it might've also flown entirely over her head. Two minutes later Fuji-nee leaves on her moped, preparing today's classes. The trio of us also leave early, having to bring Cirno to our ally. She's capable enough to go on her own, but I will look very, very irresponsible if I let an apparently twelve year old girl roam the street, especially when there's a magus out harvesting people's prana.

The three of us leave the house, on our way to the foot of the temple. It's a forty minute walk from my house to the temple, but nearly half of that time is spent walking the stairs from the foot of the mountain up to the temple. Only twenty minutes are spend on moving towards the temple, which is filled with meaningless banter between the three of us.

When we arrive we see three people waiting at the bottom: The two allies, Kuzuki Souichirou and Caster, together with the person who Caster did describe as glasses-in-law, my friend Ryuudou Issei. The two males are in their normal uniforms, but Caster's hood and cloak are replaced with a black shirt and a long tan skirt. It quite fits her and she can be considered a great human beauty, but it's somewhat hindered by her dodgy elven ears. She takes a rather long glance at Sakura, before giving a creepy smile that makes my spine freeze.

"Hello again, kids. And you too, miss…" Sakura introduces herself, and she asks if Caster's going to be the one to take care of Cirno. It is at this moment that I realize that Sakura has given away the name of my dear servant.

Damn.

It's like giving away one of your cards while playing poker: really stupid. The only advantage lessening the blow is that I've given my trump card to a servant we're allied with and has no intention of fighting us for the Grail. At least it's not an enemy… unless it's Shinji, I doubt he would actually utilize such advantages… although his servant looks rather calculating.

"Yo, Emiya." I hear Issei greet me. I turn to him and greet him back. "It seems we have a broken radiator at the temple, and not even the monk in charge of the few electronics we have can fix it. I heard from Souichirou that you would fix it for him in exchange of his foxy fiancée taking care of your… niece, correct?" Roll with it, Shirou.

"Yes, my niece, Cirno. Apparently she from old man Kiritsugu's mother's side, even if Kiritsugu never really talked about her. I only learned about her existence a few weeks ago."

"Hmm, it's rather shameful of Cirno's parents to drop her off at a relative they hardly know. What in heavens is that couple doing?"

I doubt that they still exist in this world, so I simply answer that I don't know. No leads that can bite me in the back does not sound wrong to me.

"It is time to go." I hear Soichirou say in a calm but commanding voice. He's probably right. He himself has no lessons to give during the first hour of today's school, because those are only meant for the homeroom teachers. However, we students are still required to attend those lessons, especially the student council president has to be on time. If he doesn't arrive on time then school will become a chaos unlike ever seen before.

The four of us move in a hurried pace to school. We still talk somewhat… and by that I mean Issei and Sakura talk with me as the mediator. Kuzuki stays silent as always.

From the talk it shows that Issei thinks quite positively over Sakura. According to the student president she is someone who has the right attitude for a future wife, a good yamato nadeshiko, so to say. She's somewhat shy and soft-spoken, but she has a great inner strength, according to Issei. To think that he, who is pretty much anti-woman and especially anti-Tohsaka, would speak so positively about one. That probably comes because Sakura and Tohsaka have two of the most distant familial connections in all of Japan.

Issei x Sakura… it sounds like a pretty good combination. A traditional Japanese man and a traditional Japanese woman, it is the true traditional pairing. The only thing standing in the way is that Issei plans to follow the path of monkhood. Truly a shame, it's a pairing I would've otherwise shipped.

We eventually arrive at school, where each goes his or her own way: Kuzuki to the teacher's room, Sakura to the first years, and Issei and I enter the second year classroom, where classes are about to start.

School is as boring as ever. I don't plan to go to college after this, the only thing on my mind is becoming a hero of justice. There's no need for difficult 6 year long courses on law or medicine when the only law I need to follow is helping everyone and all healing can be done by a well-placed healing spell. I can better spend that time rescuing others.

All I do at school is the usual stuff. Follow classes half-asleep, fix stuff during the break, eat lunch with Isseic at the same time… The only thing that would've been worth mentioning is if Shinji would try something here as revenge. Tohsaka is completely unaware of my status as magus, Berserker's master is a little kid of ten or so, and I'm doubtful that Lancer's master is another student of this school. If anything I expect the chance of him serving some sort of representative from a big magi organization more likely than Lancer's master being another student.

Lucky for me Shinji is absent, probably still having his nose fixed. That, or he is preparing to ambush me, which… is worse.

Because there's no Shinji at school, there nothing interesting out there, so it quickly becomes evening. For once I'm not going home with Sakura, with her saying she has some home issues. That translates to 'I have to take care of my brother', which is kind of my fault, so I can't blame her for this.

I need to get Cirno back from Caster's place. Because both Issei and Kuzuki have afterschool business to attend I'm walking all alone to the temple. It's only a half hour walk, of which most is spend walking the stairs up the mountain

But I'm not so far yet. I'm only five minutes away from school, walking along one of the outer streets of Fuyuk-

Killing intent from my left. Whatever it is, if I don't dodge it I'm dead! I stumble backwards a bit, and see a nail on a chain flying past my face, impaling the place I would've walked into. I look to the left for a second, and see the purple-haired servant I met yesterday.

Revenge.

That's probably her mission. Kill the master Emiya Shirou for punching Shinji in the face. He probably didn't even give her specifications, considering he isn't within sight bragging about himself.

Another attack is launched at me, at speeds beyond dodging. Even if I can see the attack properly, it's no use if I my body cannot react to it. Dodges quickly become scratches, which then become cuts. I run into an alleyway to dodge her assault, and for some reason it stops.

Did I lose her? No, I haven't even begun to flee. Doesn't she have orders to follow me and kill me? Warily I continue to flee until I suddenly hear a voice speak out to me:

"Aren't you going to use a command seal to summon your servant?" Rider speaks the words as solemn as ever, but I can see that it's an obvious taunt.

Summon your servant and waste your command seal. A normal master only has three of them, and using the third will make you lose your right as a master. Make a master waste those is a valid strategy.

However, I have nine. With nine command seals, I should be allowed to waste- no. I cannot allow myself to think like that. That would only be playing into my enemies hands.

"Sorry, but I don't think that wasting them is a good idea." I see a steel pipe lying on the ground, and I pick it up as I'm running. I reinforce it to its limit, making I durable enough to block even those nails of Rider.

"Then you're either reckless or a fool." She suddenly jumps down on me, only barely allowing me to block her attack. As I get hit I notice an odd feeling. Compared to Lancer, Caster and Cirno… this servant lacks weight behind her attacks. If the others feel like unsurmountable mountains, then Rider is a steep hill, difficult to climb, but I can overcome it.

"Is this your full power? Either you're holding back or you're simply the weakest of servants."

Then she speeds up. The cuts become deeper, more deadly, and I cannot keep up anymore. Another nail flies, successfully penetrating my right leg, which she then uses to swing me around and throw me into a dark alleyway. I hit the trash gathered up in a dead end, with the only exit locked off by Rider.

"Care to repeat that statement?" Rider asks mockingly, clearly not liking it that I called her the weakest.

I'm screwed. If I fight I'll lose. Running is impossible. There is only one solution left: The marks on my hand glow bright red as I use one of them to summon my servant right next to me:

"Cirno!" On command the air in front of me displaces itself as Cirno appears in her Caster form. She was probably still busy with Caster trying to invent some new form of magecraft or so, but now her eyes are set to protect. With a single gesture she summoned a bunch of colorful glowing orbs and scatters them all the way through the alleyway. They ricochet off the walls, creating a complex yet beautiful pattern of magecraft through which Rider is currently weaving her way through.

"Stop." With a single word Cirno makes all the orbs stop moving, each of them turning white, frozen like ice. Rider ducks under one of the orbs, slicing it in half with her nail, as the released energy causes a small implosion that barely affects the enemy.

And with only the faintest of hand gestures Cirno turns the orbs into crystal-like mirrors, each shining like the dust of diamonds.

From Cirno's hand three lasers shoot into three nearby mirrors, which get reflected and multiplied by all these crystals in the alleyway.

Rider observes it, and charges straight through. The distance is fifteen meters. A servant like her can cover that distance starting from standstill in a second. With all the mirrors in the way that lowers to slightly less than two.

But she needs to survive it first. From the mirrors seventeen lasers shoot at Rider. If she continues moving our way she'll get hit by four. If she retreats she'll get hit by two. Her sides are closed by walls of reinforced concrete. Even if she goes sideways another three beams will pierce her. If she jumps another four will penetrate her, and the rest will kill her if she decides to stop moving.

She'll choose the path of least damage, probably retreating while twisting her body so that only minor parts of her body are hurt.

But she doesn't.

She sprints right through. The lasers don't even faze her. It's like they get cancelled on hit. A shocked Cirno raises several barriers of ice, which do succeed in stopping Rider, but not her nail that simply pierces through the ice and makes a hole in my servant's side.

I check Rider's status, and see the problem: Magic Resistance. This servant is age of gods, a time when magic was commonplace and so was natural resistance to it. As a servant, this person can negate almost all magecraft, so a form like Caster is the absolute worst to use against her.

But even so Cirno doesn't change forms. She simply adjust her strategy by not firing spells at her. Instead she turns the water particles in the air into sharp icicles and throws them to where Rider is standing. This time she completes the spell first and only then throws it, making it not a spell but a projectile.

And Rider has no protection against projectiles, forcing her to jump ten feet back. The mirrors have already disappeared, as object that only pointlessly drain prana have no reason to exist.

"So, Caster-class servant, if that's what you really are," Rider speaks calmly. "You should see that your magecraft doesn't affect me, and these icicles of yours will only get me in a surprise attack. I recommend that you use your Noble Phantasm, Caster, or your chances of winning are less than 1 percent." Another taunt, this time from Rider trying to figure out my servant's ultimate weapon.

"That's as good as 99% to me!" Cirno boasts, before creating nine magic circles in the air that fire very large laserbeams. I doubt that this is her Noble Phantasm, but this barrage make it look like it's raining light.

However, even though each of these beams are as strong as a high-ranking spell of a first-class magus… they should not be able to hurt Rider. As expected, she moves through the first and second without any damage.

Third fourth fifth, no exceptions. Sixth seventh, no, the seventh is somehow effective!

The beam strikes Rider on her left shoulder, only barely missing the vital areas. Rider dodges to the side, but the damage has already been dealt:

Rider's left arm is covered in third degree burn wounds, just like her shoulder. The fact that it's even still attached is a miracle. Her face is burned to the point that normal people will never recover from it. Her clothes are melted onto her body, and she must be feeling excruciating pain right now.

"What was that?" Rider spits out, glaring at my servant.

"That was simply pure power." Cirno speaks to her. Even though her Caster form is much more humble, there's still an underlying tone of arrogance in her voice. "I've learned it from a certain witch I used to pick fights with. Even if you can withstand my power, if I keep firing then I will eventually crit and kill you, Rider."

"Hmph." Rider simply looks at us before fleeing away from the battle. I try to follow but Cirno stops me. "Don't, Shirou. You're in no condition to follow her." It's true, so I stop my pursuit as quickly as I started it.

Cirno looks at my wounded body, and uses her magic to lighten the pain. "I'm sorry, but healing isn't my forte. At best I can simply cool the wound and prevent it from opening up." I look at my leg that is has been covered up by some frozen material. Even though it is frozen and crystallized, it doesn't feel cold. I walk a few steps, which thankfully goes completely normal.

The two of us walk to the temple, where Caster is probably waiting for our return. Our tempo is calm, but we stay wary. My leg is still wounded, just like Cirno's side, so we are easy prey.

But even so, Rider is wounded, Berserker and it's master seem honorable, and running into one of the others is a miraculously small chance if we are not looking for them either. If we stay calm it will end all right.

We simply walk our way to the stronghold, and to pass the time I set up a discussion with Cirno: "Thanks for rescuing me, Cirno."

"It was nothing," She says with an innocent and pure face, "It's something every servant would do for their master."

"Yes… right." I sometimes forget that we're not simple friends, but that we have a complicated relationship between master and servant fighting in a war. But even though we were forced in this relationship, I'm sure both of us would get along in normal circumstances. Not wanting to lose our simple talk to awkwardness I ask Cirno how her day was.

"Well, my classless form kind of dislikes you after what Caster did to me." I am both angered at Caster for doing what she did to my servant and a bit confused about the pronouns she is using. But anger reigns, and if what Caster did is bad enough I'm willing to break up our alliance.

"Cirno." I ask to my servant, angered by the situation, "What did Caster do to you?"

She looks at my face, and upon noticing my anger calms me down immediately: "Don't worry master, it's nothing harmful. Caster simply has a weird obsession with dressing kids like me in my base form in cute clothes."

That's softer than expected. And also something I didn't expect from Caster. But something is still bugging me about the way Cirno talks. "But why do you speak about yourself as if you are multiple persons?"

"Mainly because we are." The answer reaches me with surprise, as all my thoughts disrupt for a second. I softly show my shock, but Cirno is willing to explain: "All these forms of mine are different parts of the myths surrounding one person. If my base form is the child-like form that got me famous, then the other nine are ways I developed into. Some are based around future events from the base's timeline, such as reaching maturity like this form, others are based around my relations with others or my famous fighting moves. Others are based on alternate universes, where I perfects math or have swordfights on motorcycles."

"Hold on. Swordfights on motorcycles?" That sound very awesome and something I want to see. "Really?"

"Yes. It's almost as cool as card games on motorcycles. Or swordgames on cardfights, whatever that means."

"I lost you." I don't understand it any more. "And I believe we're getting off track."

She notices it, and continues telling me about her different forms: "Yes, uhm, anyways, all these forms have different histories, learned different life lessons, and became different people… however, the ten of us share memories, and our opinions over them differ greatly. For example, from my perspective my base form is my past youth, while looking at me from her form I am a possible future self. Where I used to brag all the time about how I am the greatest and the strongest this me is embarrassed by saying such stuff, and being dressed in those clothes is something I call cute too even though I used to dislike that kind of thing."

She speaks with both nostalgia and embarrassment over her young self. "So you are Cirno in her later days of life?"

"Not… exactly." My servant replies with great difficulty. "Actually there are two forms that can be considered adult forms of me, but they are achieved by different results: It's comparable to touhoumon, maybe you ever played it."

"No, can't say that game rings a bell. What's the comparison, Cirno?"

"In that game a puppet can evolve in two ways: Natural growth or tempering with the form through special stones. Each method produces a different evolved puppet, and it's the same for me. Just like there is a form that is created through natural growth, there's a form created from shady drugs and pills, of which the latter is how I came into existence."

So essentially, she's a byproduct from a normal growth, an alteration created by altering nature. "So what's the difference between these two adult forms of yours, other than how it was achieved?"

"Well, class abilities and way of fighting aside, there's our outlook on life. She's somewhat cynical, giving advice in lightly insulting manners to those around her." Sounds like someone I would never get along with. "I try to stay more gentle and kind to my friends, but we both have the same heart of gold."

Even though their way of showing it is different, their goals and ideals are the same. I might need to rethink my opinion of that other form. "So it's just your way of showing your love and friendship that's different, right?"

"Uhm, yeah." She suddenly starts to blush, as she looks at me with the cutest yet most confused face I've seen her make thus far. "Also, there's one more major difference between the two of us."

Another one? "What is that then, Cirno?"

"Well, uhm, this." She places her hands und-let me repeat, she places her hands under her… rather well-developed assets that I never really paid attention to before, and she lifts them up a bit, showing off their soft elasticity. "Mine are… somewhat bigger than my other form." Somewhat my ass, even Sakura and Rider are smaller than those.

"Uhm, I see…" I turn my head away, making sure I don't stare at her body anymore. "But you can stop that, you know. You've… made your point clear. So please stop." Stop before I get a nosebleed from this, please, I already feel my blood pressure rising exponentially.

We awkwardly and silently continue walking to Caster's base. When we arrive we see Caster standing on the stairs, who greets us back with her ice grin. After a short greeting she observes our current wounded state, and easily heals the two of us. She asks for Cirno to help her finish what they were busy with before I used a command seal and disrupted their work, almost blowing up the temple by the sudden imbalance.

"Sorry." I apologize for it, as it was my fault that their experiment almost failed. Caster forgives me, and tells me that Kuzuki, and by that note Issei, have safely arrived back at the temple. But before the strategy meeting can commence she wants to finish the project she was working on with Cirno, so she asks me to do something for myself on the temple grounds until she's ready.

And with that Caster picks up Cirno and teleports away, disappearing into pink butterflies that die out in the moonlight.

Lonely I jog up the temple stairs, eventually arriving at the gate. I promised to fix their heater, but after I was shown where the heater is I found it surprisingly easy to fix, only taking around ten minutes to solve the problem. Meanwhile Caster doesn't seem to show any sign of being finished. I have some time for myself now, How should I spend it?

 **A) Talk to Caster and Cirno**

 **B) Speak with Kuzuki and Issei**

 **C) Investigate Assassin**

 **D) Search the temple alone**

 **Status Screen Improved!**

\- Page K01 end -


	6. Page K05

**Page K01 D) Search the temple alone**

-Page K05-

The last time I've been inside the temple was two years ago, when Issei offered me to stay for a while after we walked home together. I would like to see how much has changed, so let's see what the inside of the temple looks like.

The head monk, his family and the guests live in the western building. Now that I'm here I can also check if the monks really aren't mind-controlled. I have no reason to doubt Caster, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

The building is mostly empty. Either the monks are in their rooms or doing their business in different parts of the temple. The only place I don't enter is Issei's room. The door with his name written next to it will only lead me to someone I don't need to talk to right now, so it's better for me to keep searching. Issei's older brother Reikan's room, their parent's room, their grandfather's room… There's nothing out of the ordinary.

BZZT

A single weird noise is heard moments after determining that everything was normal. The ordinary rooms of this building stay the same… except for one room: There's no name next to it, probably a guest room, but it's surrounded by many bounded fields. And all these bounded fields are suddenly inactive.

"What's this?" It's certainly related to Caster, but how? If I couldn't sense it before, does that mean that this is some hideous secret she tries to hide? What does my ally have hidden?

If my trust was well-placed, and this place is something like her workshop, then I'm treading into a magus' most valued territory. Disputes occur over entering other magi's workshops, and sometimes these disputes lead to multiple deaths and great destruction. It's not something I can do lightly.

On the other hand, it can also be something horrible: mana-drained monks, for example. Or perhaps a machine that slowly absorbs the souls of orphaned children! If that's the case then I need to confront Caster about it. It isn't something I can forgive.

No. I cannot doubt myself now. I must enter this place and figure out the truth. Through doubt I can figure out the truth behind Caster, either strengthening our bond or destroying it for just reasons. I calm myself, self-suggesting that I will open the door on three.

"One…" I put my hand on the door, and with a last sensual check I try to see if everything is truly disabled.

"Two…" Nothing comes in. Good. That means that this break-in won't be found out. I grip the door tightly, ready to slide away. And with a final push…

"Three!" …I slide the door open. I keep my eyes open, no matter what I might see. And there I see the gruels in front of me:

"Eh?"

What?

Is it something I expected? No. Could I've expected it? Somewhat, yes. But it still goes over any expectations I might've had.

"This, this is…" No doubt about it, this is Caster's room. But not her workshop. No, this is her, ahem, hobby room. For rather weird hobbies you don't want others to see.

I walk through the room inspecting each of the absurd parts that should not be seen normally. The biggest offender is probably to my left, where a bunch of child-sized costumes are worn by equally sized mannequins. Two of them strike my eye, as the sign next to it deems these her "top picks": One is a frilly maid outfit with accompanying headdress and apron, while the other is a standard school swimsuit with the name Cirno on it, belonging to class 9-I. Other outfits include a goth-lolita dress, frilly dress, another swimsuit, this one a two piece, a miniature version of caster's outfit… Truly a wonderful mess of outfits.

On the table in the middle is a model working kit. A welder, glue bottle, a few molds, paint in all the colors of the rainbow. And in the middle of it all stands a lone, half-finished figurine of my servant. It's of her Saber form, with an extra ahoge on top. I must admit that Caster paints well, this is truly a piece of art. I'll give her an A for her skill at item creation… but seeing the wall opposed from me makes me somewhat scared.

After all, there is a very creepy and weird affection for, well, my servant. Tons of figurines line up as an army of dolls, covering an entire cabinet. Every form of fanservice is invoked on these beings, an idol of lust for many. On the wall next to it are hundreds of photos, each taken in secret from when me and Cirno were together. There's a sleeping Cirno, an eating Cirno, a happy Cirno, all kinds of Cirno are displayed.

Caster, your hobby seriously creeps me out.

But the photos and figurines don't only show Cirno. It also has pictures of another small girl, and some of the figurines are based on this person. I take one of the pictures from the wall for a closer look at it. It's a kid I don't know, or at least don't remember having seen her. I think she's cute, but there's something off about her. Is it those eyes, with their inhuman edge? Or is it that look on her face that makes me go almost lunatic? It's offsetting, but there's nothing I can alter to make her appeal to myself more.

I put the photo back. There's no need for me to keep it. I probably won't even see her again. It's a shame that I won't meet someone like her, the idea slightly interests me. Will it be like having a second Cirno in the house? Or is it more of a third one, considering my guardian's usual antics?

"Heh." I let out a small laugh as I turn away and out of the chamber. I've no reason to stick here any longer.

Or not. Something shiny from the edge of my field of vision catches my eye. I turn to the origin of this light, and see a completely golden fleece. It's made from the wool of a shee-no, this is the wool of a ram. The wool of a ram, but more. There is the weight of history on it, and it embodies a hidden power I cannot see.

It is a beautiful armament, something ordinary men can never obtain, and only heroes can wield proudly over their shoulders. I take a step towards it. Touching it should be fine, right? Why can't I? Why shouldn't I?

Another step. It's a beautiful work of art, something all people would try to steal. I won't do that, as that's something a hero of justice cannot do… but still, it's so beautiful…

Almost within range. I want to touch it. I want to hold it. I want to keep it. I want t-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

A loud sound snaps me out of a trance. I feel something in my pocket vibrating, the same thing that's creating the bleeping noise. I pull it out, already knowing what it is. To activate it I just need to push the button, and that should contact me with Caster. I do as I think, and find myself face to face with an image of Caster.

"Hello, Caster. What do you want?" I ask politely, not wanting to invoke her ire.

The face she gives me contains no smile, nor any other emotion. It's plain and uninterested, fitting for the message: "Your servant and I have completed our final point of research. Now that that is finished I would like to start to prepare strategies for the war. Now you just need to come to the eastern temple meditation room." She sounds bored, and not really interested in this conversation. "You know how to get there."

"Well… not really. I haven't been inside the temple often." I stammer out, causing Caster to sigh.

"Listen, boy." She speaks, and I feel some deathly spike behind her words. "A master that cannot even find his way in allied territory cannot even be called third-rate. What kind of imperfect fledgling are you?" She continues to scold me for a while, but does give me the location of the room after her scolding is done. putting the slab of rock back in my pocket I exit the hobby room, hoping that Caster won't see the trespassing. Now to quickly go to the meditation room…

 **(Plus 1 affection point for Assassin)**

 **(Minus 1 affection point for Caster)**

 **(Plus 2 affection points for ?2?)**

Following Caster's instructions I quickly arrive at the destined room. It's a simple room, normally containing nothing but a group of monks meditation, but now it's adorned by a simple table and four pillows, three of them already being used as seats. On the far end of the table are Kuzuki and Caster, while Cirno sits down opposite of Caster. I put myself down next to my servant, ready to start the talk about our great plan.

"So, Caster, Kuzuki," I ask to my two allies, "what is the plan for this war? We may have a numerical advantage, but how are we going to use it?"

Caster chuckles lightly, like I was asking a stupid question. "That's obviously why we are here. Let's first get a glance of the current situation: She raises her hand towards the table, and with a sudden flow of prana the table shifts form. The tabletop rises without moving. No, it's not rising, the table simply gets higher!

The table acts like it is split into thousands of tiny squares, each rising to their own height. When the magecraft is finished a geographic map of Fuyuki city is left on the table. It's an amazing piece of magecraft, forcing precise control of thousands of pieces… yet she does this with a simple gesture? Once more she shows why she is a mage from the age of gods.

"The base of operations that I use is right here." She lets her hand float over a relatively high part of the map that I easily recognize as this temple, and with another infusion of prana the wood colors green at that specific location. "Your current place of living and headquarters is around here." She holds her hand over the part of the map representing my neighborhood, and turns it green too.

Both me and Cirno nod, confirming that we live there. Caster continues her speech, starting with our rivals. "Other than your servant, boy, my Assassin, and myself, there are 4 other servants spread through the city. The only servant I have slight knowledge of their location is servant Lancer." With another wave of her hand she colors the entire right half of the table red.

"So he's hiding somewhere in the Shinto area?"

"Correct." However, I haven't been able to find the hideouts of the other three masters. This servant sounds like she holed up in this place the entire time without a care for the world around her… and I'm quite certain that is very true.

However, do allies not exist to pick up the things you cannot? She does not know the locations, but Cirno and I on the other hand…

"Two of the enemy masters are Matou Shinji and Tohsaka Rin, masters of Rider and Archer respectively. They're students at Homurahara too, so Kuzuki should know them." Caster turns to her master, who gives a curt nod.

"Correct. Those two are students I teach History and Ethics." He replies dully before falling silent again. There's no emotion in his voice, and his movements are minimal. There's something I recognize in this man, something that reminds him of me, but it is something I cannot grasp… for now.

"Their locations are here and here." Cirno point at the two locations that we discussed earlier, and with her own gesture she turns them into an icy blue color. Caster looks at it, nodding in comprehension.

"I see… is there a chance that these two work together, considering how close they are to one another?"

A valid question. But the answer is a clear no. "Tohsaka Rin and Matou Shinji are not on the best of terms, to put it lightly. They aren't people who will get along, and the chance of either of them allying with Lancer or Berserker is bigger."

Caster looks at us, slightly impressed that we got all that info. "And did you perhaps also find out about Berserker, Cirno and his boy?" Huh, Caster is now on name basis with Cirno. Of course, there's no name like Archer or Caster to use for my servant that exceeds classes, but I kind of expected Caster to go with something like "woman", "fellow magus" or " miss light-blue hair".

"While we did meet her master briefly, we do not know her name nor her hideout." Cirno speaks clearly, making Caster look slightly disappointed. Clearly she hoped to get everything she didn't know. It's a shame, but we never got that knowledge. I can't row with oars I don't have.

"A pity." Caster pauses for a while, while all four of us are silent. Eventually Caster comes with her next question. "Can you tell me somewhat more about the other masters and servants, boy?"

Of course I'm willing to share my knowledge. I talk about my friend Shinji, about his arrogance, his lack of powerful magic circuits, and his naivety in battle. His servant also gets some mention, describing the fight we had on the way here with that quick-footed and emotionless servant. My teacher gives a nod at my explanation, probably deeming it as truth for Caster. They say nothing, waiting for me to continue.

So I do: I talk about perfect honor student Tohsaka and her dual-wielding Archer. What kind of Archer wields swords anyway? Next thing you know he actually fires those things from his bow!

And then there's Lancer… "I haven't met his master, and you know at least as much as we do about him, if not more." My assessment is correct, as Caster start talking about Lancer's true identity:

Cu Chulainn, the Irish child of Light. The hound of Culain, known for slaying armies, his warp spams, top student of warrior sorceress Scathach, and seducer of many, many women, proving clearly that he's not gay… although his relationship with his BFF Ferdidad does suggest something along the lines of bi…

His most dangerous abilities are his beast like speed, his knowledge of rune magic, and his Noble Phantasm. Caster explains in full detail the dangers of his legendary spear:

[Gae Bolg: Barbed Spear that Pierces With Death]. Its name is derived from the term for "Serrated throwing weapon", ga'boolga, and is a demonic lance obtained only by the most gifted of heroes. It's ancestors are Gungnir, spear of Odin, and Brionac, spear of Cu Chulainn's father Lugh.

The technique used by Lancer is that of a simple trust, but with the special ability of altering cause and effect. Instead of trusting the spear so the heart will be pierced, the heart is pierced first and only then comes the trust.

It's an attack that alters destiny to guarantee a kill, becoming unblockable the moment it is cast. Only ones luck and ability to deny fate can save one after the Noble Phantasm is activated. Even Caster claims that her magecraft cannot help her against the divine authority of that Noble Phantasm.

"Yes, it's a dangerous weapon, but I doubt that that is all to the spear." Cirno speaks up for the first time after listening to others speaking for quite a while. "I've seen Gungnir during my life, and while it is absolutely true that Gungnir has a relation to fate like Lancer's spear it is also a weapon of mass destruction when thrown. I doubt that Gae Bolg didn't keep that aspect of the spear."

"So you say that Lancer's weapon is two Noble Phantasms: one a trust to efficiently kill a single person and the other a throw to wipe out an army?" Cirno nods politely as Caster gives another wicked smile, continuing her questioning of my servant. "And you know of Gungnir… does that make you one of Scandinavia's heroes, Cirno?"

"too bad, but I'm not." My servant bows down and apologizes as if she has done Caster wrong. "All I have is that in one of the myths surrounding me I'm friends with a vampire who somehow acquired that Noble Phantasm."

"Hmm… a vampire, you say? Sure you don't mean a dead apostle? Those are different things."

Cirno denies this other form, claiming that her friend is a true vampire, and not this dead apostle Caster is talking about.

"Oh truly, youngster?" Caster uses a new term for my servant, for once sounding disgracing about her, "You're a rather new hero here, aren't you? I doubt your legend is even over a hundred years old."

And Caster puts Cirno in mate, as she looks with amazement at Caster. How did she know that?

"You want to know, don't you, boy?" As if she reads my mind, perfectly knowing what goes on at this table. "It should be easy to understand for even a second-rate magus, but you aren't even that, are you?"

Spot on. This enemy is truly a magus among magi, knowledgeable of the world and self. Who is she? I flinch, unable to answer back.

"Can't the same be said of your master, Caster? Between our two masters, he is the better magi." But Caster is not the only one who stands out. My servant is currently in her Caster form, another person who exemplifies the limits of magecraft. These two equal each other. As they are now, neither will gain successive victories over the other.

"Correct." Seeing the point that Cirno made Kuzuki gives out the truth: "I am not a magus. I am merely a teacher who accidentally got involved in this war. The only reason I continue fighting is to help my servant fulfill her wishes."

"The same as me, huh?" So Kuzuki also go-did I just say that out loud?

"Oh really, boy? But are you not a magus? Do you not have your own wish to fulfill?"

Me, a magus? Calling me that is a disgrace to all real magi. I have no magic crest, I don't even have magic circuits! "I am not a magus. The only way for me to perform magecraft is by crafting false magic circuits, and I only summoned a servant by pure chance. I'm only a third-rate magus at best, perhaps even a fourth-rate."

"No… magic circuits…?" Caster stares at me, dumbfounded, before laughing loudly. Unlike her creepy smiles and her warm smiles, this one carries a totally different meaning. She's mocking me. "Hahahaha! Really, a magus like this! Hahaha!" She falls on her back before laughing some more.

"What's so funny?" Cirno and I speak the words at the same time, causing the two of us to flinch at each other. With Caster rolling over from laughter the only calm person in the room is my teacher, who is currently adjusting his glasses.

"You are an idiot through and through, boy!" The laugher finally goes down, and Caster sits back on her pillow. "Don't you even see that you do own magic circuits?"

The world shatters around me. The question pierces all my knowledge I had of magecraft. I have magic circuits? But… but… but… no, really? I have magic circuits?

Old man Kiritsugu never told me. Considering how much he was against me learning magecraft, it's not really a surprise. On the other hand, I've been studying magecraft for multiple years now and I didn't even figure out I have magic circuits. I can't even call myself a third-rate magus now, I barely count as fifth-rate!

"I…" I cannot stammer more out of my mouth, as all the muscles in my body are still tensed up. All other three look at me, Cirno with compassionate worry, Caster with a sadistic smile, and Kuzuki as indifferent as ever. Caster speaks up, continuing her explanation.

"I've used a bit of magecraft on you to measure your ability. It happened during your first invasion, to see if you were a threat. You have without doubt magic circuits, slightly above that of an average magus. However, the quality of your circuits are very low… but now it makes sense. You never used your circuits, they're completely rusted over!"

Uck… my stupidity really is huge. I am an idiot who wasted his biggest chance at heroics. It was right in front of me, but I never gripped it. Damn! I look away the rest, from reality, wanting to suffer in my idiocy alone.

My servant pats me on the back, giving a smile that says "Don't worry, I'm here to help". I smile back, relieved by seeing her face. Perhaps I failed once. However, I will succeed the next time!

"You loon of a magus, you interest me more and more." The servant of magic speaks up, with words uncommon of her. TO make the surprise greater she then gives me an offer I cannot refuse: "Boy, Let me see what kind of magus I can shape out of you."

"W-What?" First seeing Caster's "workshop", then I learn I have natural magic circuits, and now Caster offers to teach me magecraft. I believe that this is the most shocking day thus far. By a wide margin. A really, really, really, wide margin.

"She's a genius with magecraft, Shirou. One does not simply get someone like her to teach you. In my long life I've only known two, occasionally two and a half people who are better at teaching than her." Cirno's words are true. I knew that she is an amazing magus. But that's not the question.

"Why?"

"Why? There's simply no fun in teaching a perfect talent. Seeing someone like you doing your best to improve is much more interesting." In other words, she's a sadist who wants to see me struggle to get better, but also one who is genuinely pleased by hard work and effort.

"Fine then, I accept your teachings." There's no reason not to. She has shown me this much, and I know that she has the skills. "When do we start?"

"Tomorrow evening. Tonight we discuss the last of our plans. In the midday we make preparations, and in evening and night we increase our at night."

"…" There's nothing left to say. All I need to do is complete the plan, get taught by this magus, and eventually save the city from this war.

"Caster, aren't you forgetting something?" I look at my servant, who boldly claims that there's a mistake on Caster's side. Did she forget something? Before I can ask the answer is given: "You are fully aware of our abilities and skills, but we know next to nothing about the skills of Kuzuki, Assassin and you. We're your allies, right, and not mere pawns, right?"

"Hmm…" A cold glare from Caster. She clearly isn't happy that this is brought up. I doubt that she is willing to tell us like this. Can I change i-

"Caster, tell them effective information." Out of all places it is Kuzuki who provides help. Upon his suggestion Caster sighs and starts to talk:

"As we all know, your servant is capable of switching classes. It allows her to fulfill any role on the battlefield. And what we need the most right now is a good vanguard. Your partners are a Caster and an Assassin. My servant cannot leave the temple grounds due to the abnormal summoning, and my best spells are used for support. My master also lacks magic circuits, his only ability in combat being his martial arts. We have no problem defending this place, but our effectiveness is greatly hindered away from the temple. We'll be the shield, so you two be our sword."

"Got it." I assure my ally of our help. We'll scout the city, and they secure our base. "By the way, Caster, is it possible for you to reinforce my house?" My own house sleeps better than the guest beds here, and I don't want to abandon my old man's house for no reason.

"I'll start on it tomorrow midday. In the meantime, after you went to school, I would like you to plant these on the southern leyline." With a flick of her hand the table shows a new line, this one twisting like a river through the southern part of the map. Caster points to three points on the map, which flash in bright magenta, and she shows me a special dagger:

It's a weapon of a foot long, transparent with a blue shimmer. Eternal ice, the weapon is completely made from that mystical ingredient. It is not meant for killing, no, this one's job is to…

"It's a prana absorber." Absorbing and storing prana; as if by instinct I know the weapon's ability, even though I've barely started with structural grasp.

"Well seen, boy. It's the solution for our greatest problem." She hands me the short blade, along with two other copies of the blade. "I want you to place them at these three points."

Caster falls silent waiting for a response while giving less than halve the information. My servant Cirno luckily fills the gaps I left:

"The biggest problem we face is the prana reserves of our masters. Even though most of my forms think of you as the absolute strongest master, from my perspective as a Caster you have many flaws, of which this is the most pressing problem. By using these daggers to absorb the prana from the ground we have a good backup prana source. Caster was planning to use this on her own, but she lacked the materials to create her own. Lucky for us I am more than capable of producing what's needed."

"Yes. You're a real asset, Cirno." The two women share a single laugh, and the room falls into silence.

"I believe we are done." Kuzuki speaks up from the quietness. "We will reinforce Emiya's house to the level of a secondary base, and you two will prepare the prana absorbers." He looks at his servant, asking with his gaze if Caster has anything left to say.

"Oh, one last thing." Yes, Caster remembers one last part, the finale of the meeting: "Can you leave some of that eternal ice here, Cirno? I can use the little spare time I have to make some more of these daggers."

"Oh, sure. Leave it to me." And with that all four of us seem to consciously know that this meeting is over. Kuzuki stands up first, followed by me and Caster, and Cirno stands up as the last one. I thank the two for having me over, and they invite me for tomorrow evening in return.

I move towards the exit, and by the gate I wait for my servant who is busy creating magecraft materials. After five minutes she comes floating by, no longer in her Caster form but back in her origin. We walk down the stairs, having had a good end of the day.

I look over the daggers I have been given. Pulling one out of the schoolbag I placed it in, I let its energy flow through me.

It's a slightly wet grip, which is not that surprising. It's made entirely from ice, after all. It's a piece of beauty, created by the forces of two great magi. I twirl it around, and feel the weight shift somewhat. Even though it is beautiful, and its blade is sharp, I cannot wield this in battle. There is no "good" or "bad" form for a sword. However, this one simply feels wrong to wield. Would I do so, I will throw out the contents of my stomach from the disgust, and kill myself in the process.

I put the blade back and turn to my servant. For once she doesn't look too happy, her face staying way too calm, way too neutral. No laugh, no angry pout, but emotionless.

"Is something wrong, Cirno?"

"I don't like this." Cirno normally doesn't complain, so this is unique. "I don't mind allying with the likes of Caster and Assassin. Fighting them is probably not going to be a good fight for someone of my level anyways. However, the way they, and by that extent us, fight this war? Even though our victory is absolutely secured, I feel wrong about this. This war we fight… we lack a fatal amount of pride in our power."

She's a warrior. Even though she looks so petite and childish, she is a legendary hero who fought for her ideals. Would I be willing to forsake my ideals if it grants me the ability to absolutely save someone…

Ugh. Don't think about that. I will grasp both, anything else is out of the question. So it should be the same for Cirno too. "Fight honorably." Not a command, simply an advice. "Fight with pride, but don't let it blind you. Accept help, but don't let it counter your ideals." I smile at Cirno, my smile trying to give the sun a run for its money in brightness, "We will win this war with honor and keep our alliance. Anything less is unsatisfactory."

"B-But…." Cirno looks flustered, unable to respond. "I… can I really?"

"Can you?" I laugh, laughing at this foolish question. "Of course you can. After all, aren't you the strongest?"

"Heh." She grins again like normal. Good. She's cured of her doubts. "You're absolutely correct. The strongest servant; the strongest master. When we work together, everything is possible.

"Absolutel-" I stop, my body freezing in fear. A towering black giant stands on our path. It's a massive man, his looks simply forcing others into submission. At his feet, not even reaching half his height, stand a small girl, looking like a small fairy in a desolated landscape.

"Good evening, Onii-chan. Looks like we're destined to meet again." She speaks gently, with the respect and manners of nobility. I recognize the girl as the same one we met in the shopping center. Then that… _thing_ … at her side… is that Berserker?

"I don't believe I've introduced ourselves, right?" She bows slightly like a European princess, refined to the point of perfection. "My name is Illyasviel from Einzbern, and this is my servant Berserker. It's a pleasure to meet you, Onii-chan."

Incredible. The power this servant emulates is incredible. Speed, Strength, Constitution, Knowledge, Wiles, Skill; No matter what I name, this is a servant what has no lack in any of these stats. He may be a berserk warrior, but if one needs intelligence to be powerful than humans would not fear the wild or the dark. As dangerous as a wild beast, surpassing that even. If not for Cirno's claims I trust I would easily write him off as the strongest servant.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅" A roar no human can ever produce comes out of the mouth of this beast, like an engine that is ready to go. He is willing to kill me. Recalling my earlier talk with her makes it clear that I have two options. I can fight, or I can run. However, the latter would mean that Cirno has to fight that monstrosity alone.

I ask for our possibilities. We have nine different ways of combat at our disposal. We should have enough to deal with this threat, right?

"Hmm… I can use Saber… Berserker is always possible too… and there's the possibility to use Ruler, but I cannot use that if you stay on the battlefield."

"Three options, huh…" I think over our possibilities. I am knowledgeable with the Saber form, and have seen its power. It was amazing, truly amazing, but can amazing beat terrifying? The other two options are either to have Cirno stall for time with Ruler while I return to Kuzuki and Caster or to fight fire with fire, in this case Berserker with Berserker. But can Ruler stall for long enough? And is there a Berserker more powerful than this one?

"Hmm? Do you two have any last words?" Our little opponent asks with a cold smile. Cirno and I have nothing to say anymore, so we give each other one more glance before focusing on the two before us. "None, it seems." She speaks serenely, like she is detached from the rest of the world. "Then I can start killing you now."

Massive bloodlust fills the air, bigger than I have ever felt. The giant stares at me, through my body and right into my soul. And so the last words before the brawl are spoken: "Get 'em, Berserker." The monster roars loudly once more before charging at us.

I have to decide now, and Cirno waits for me in anticipation. The form to use for this battle is:

 **A) Use Saber form - Go to page K06**

 **B) Use Berserker form**

 **C) Run away and use Ruler form - Go to page K08.**

 **Status Screen Improved!**

-Page K05 end-


	7. Page K06

**Page K06 A) Use Saber form**

-Page K06-

I see no problem with sticking what I already know. I give Saber the order, and shifting into her Saber form she charges into battle.

The two meet at only a few feet away as the giant swings down his sword at my servant. It's fast, almost impossible to keep track of. But for Cirno it is avoidable. She dodges nimbly away from the strike, ready to do her own. But suddenly she leaps more to the side then needed, a reflex in response to the nick that appeared on her cheek.

What just happened? Saber wasn't hit by the blades, she evaded it completely! Was that simply the air pressure around Berserker's blade that can cause such destruction?

The second swing. It's as fast as the first, maybe even faster. Dodging doesn't work, and would Cirno try to block such a swing the bones in her arms will surely shatter. So she uses the only advantage she has over this mad warrior: Her immense skill with the blade. Another swing gets parried, the flow of the massive slab of rock redirected so it causes no harm. Cirno can now prevent the swings from hurting her, but she's on the defensive. The madman simply keeps coming, no matter what Cirno does. If the battle continues as it is now, she doesn't stand a chance.

And if the servants get into stalemate it will be the masters who determine victory or loss. Not even considering the fact that I don't like to fight young girls there is also this feeling from my gut that I will not win a duel with her. If she joins in I will lose. But luckily she's content with watching the battle between servants.

The two continue fighting, but Cirno is fighting a losing battle. The opponent, even though he is huge, is also nimbler and quicker than my servant, and Cirno only rivals the Giant's power at best. Enduring it is also not an option. Compared to the cup of prana I can provide to Cirno that girl's ridiculous capacity is more like a lake.

So we need to hit him. Hard, preferably. That's the only way possible. But the only thing we have more of cannot be used here. Though Cirno has great wiles in battle she lacks the strength, weight and speed to utilize it fully against this opponent. The only thing left is to manipulate this situation to our advantage.

We'e currently fighting on an open intersection. This is not a good place to be. CIrno would do so much better against these kind of opponents if she has some form of cover. The graves of a gravejard, for example, or a mash of alleyways would make the perfect battleground for my servant.

I look around, searching for a spot that will work The houses nearby are no good, I cannot endanger the lives of innocents. The rest, where people aren't living, is just the streets, which are too open to use as a warzone. Isn't there some empty space nearby with lot of unused non-living material?

Wait, there's a parking lot near here. I order Cirno to draw Berserker to there, and she complies, thinking that it's a nice strategy to use against this mad warrior. With every step she takes the giant is drawn from the current battlefield, and to the place we want him to be.

A taunt here and there during the fighting to keep the aggro on her, a few steps in the right direction, and before I know it the fight was drawn to the parking lot. It's a simple parking lot with only thirty cars in it, but it fulfills its purpose, both the intended one and the one I just made up.

But from this distance I can only barely make out the servants, so I walk to them to get a better view. The opposing master does the same, and it just so happens that we walk side by side to our partners.

Between the two of us masters there is a temporary truce. We cannot attack each other for the sake of our servants. They are both claiming a title of which only one can exist. Either Cirno or Berserker has the right to be called the Strongest, and in this battle they're betting their right to hold onto it. Would either of us kill the other magus and cause their servant to die from prana exhaustion then no matter who wins, they will have already lost. That is pride that cannot be recovered, a fatal mistake to make in this war. We don't hold any bloodlust to each other, so we simply discuss some stuff on the way about our servants and ourselves on the road to battle.

"So, uhm, Illyasviel, if I'm correct, you're the master of Berserker, right?" I ask to the snow-haired fairy. She smiles at me as she walks next to me, explaining her situation:

"Yep, I'm his master; but you can call me Illya, Onii-chan! Didn't I tell you this before?" She's like a little mischievous angel… of death. I'm certain that there will be many parallel universes where I will die to this little girl. Hopefully this isn't one of them.

"But aren't you a little bit young to fight in the Holy Grail War? Didn't your family have any older, more experienced fighters in your clan?" I don't like fighting woman. I don't like fighting kids. I cannot think of something worse to fight than a young, female, powerful magi that acts like a cute ten year old. Well, maybe a baby is worse in the emotional way, but those never really form a threat in battle so the likes of Illya are worse overall.

"Hehehe…" Oh boy, creepy laughter. This totally isn't unsettling at all. "You're really kind, Onii-chan. To think so of the enemy… if you keep this up, you'll die, you know?" Unsettling as it is, I know it is the truth. I probably cannot kill the enemy masters. I want to save everyone. I won't accept failures. And even if it leads me towards death, I simply need to keep avoiding it.

"Perhaps. But I have my own ideals to fight for, and I will keep them 'til the very end." More cannot be said about myself. So let's ask about her instead: "So why are you in the Grail war, Illya?"

"Don't you know? The three founding families of the war are always chosen to fight. One of them is the Japanese Tohsaka family. The second are the Russian Makiri. And the third, as you can guess are us, the Einzbern, Onii-chan." So does that mean that the Makiri master is in control of Lancer? I know the six other masters, and none of those is a Makiri. It would only make sense that the seventh is a Makiri. Or perhaps they bought some freelance anti-magus mercenary to fight for them?

Yeah right, as if something like that could ever happen. What kind of dumb bloke cannot see that it's really hard to pay someone more than "a wish for anything they desire"? That's about as dumb as trying to break the rules to summon an all-powerful god entity. I'll bet ten against one that it will turn out that the god is actually a very weak human, or at best a fifth-rate servant. There's not a single magus stupid enough to do such a thing.

But that kind of thinking is unimportant right now. The important part is for Cirno to beat up the giant. I clear my mind of unnecessary thoughts, giving my all to support my servant.

I look at my servant, and see the tides turning. That Berserker is a powerful warrior, for sure, but it acts purely on instinct. With her wit Cirno managed to use the cars as distractions, scapegoats for the giants to cut into pieces with his missed swings. Of the thirty cars in the parking lot at least half are already a total loss, only good to get insurance money off it. They are the latest victims of Berserker's wraith.

"Say Illyasviel, can you use hypnotization to make the owners of the cars think that some other non-magical accident happened? Hypnotization isn't exactly my forte."

"Mou, Onii-chan… should someone from your age push such a trifling job onto someone with mine?" True, I can't exactly let a child do something an adolescent normally does, but I am a special circumstance that only can use half-assed magic. I ask her because she can do the job better. Probably. Hopefully. Or not, actually, I think I can suppress her a lot better if she cannot use magecraft.

Illya, however, doesn't seem to mind as she accepts the degrading janitorial job. Silence falls between us, and we simply stand near the entrance of the parking lot, quietly waiting for our servants to show results.

For five minutes that seem like eternity a stalemate was kept in balance. The only thing suffering from the battle are the surroundings, and especially the cars. Even though both attackthe other neither can deal a blow to the other. Skill and strength find their equals in each other.

And that isn't good for us. I will run out of prana sooner or later, and our plan with Caster to obtain prana is still in its baby steps. We need to finish this battle quickly or there won't be a next one.

Luckily Cirno seems to understand that just fine, planning to finish it as she throws a car at the enemy servant. It's a medium-sized car, a basic BMV New Class, weighing more than even the strongest non-magical man alive can lift. With great power she throws it at Berserker, with speeds to easily ram through any average person. Even the common servant will find himself pressed to come out of the attack unwounded.

But not this opponent. Berserker simply swings the car away, turning it into a pile of rubbish. But the car itself is merely a distraction. From behind the car Cirno lunges sword-first at the opponent, the tip of her blade ready to impale the enemy. Her blade glows blue, imbued with a cold power. Cirno is pushing herself past her limits, all for a single strike. She shouts out the name of the skill she used. One, that while not a Noble Phantasm, should still be powerful enough in its own right: "Cryohazzard!: The blade pierces into Berserker's body, slightly under his belly button. This is it, the blow we've been waiting for! Following up the piercing blow is a high jump upwards with the blade cutting the body of Berserker vertically in half.

A blow meant to kill someone, and forcing the giant to scream out in anguish, pain and anger. The only thing that keeps the two parts of his body from falling apart is the ice from Cirno's blade, acting as a cohesive barrier that also keep the blood frozen inside his body. It's a deathly blow for sure, Berserker is finished!

But the massive servant does not agree. Cirno has jumped several meters back, to see the results of her blow. We both expected him to dissolve into nothingness, being beaten in battle… but he still stands firm. The ice that we expected to freeze his blood and organs harmlessly crumbles off his body, and the blade, while leaving a nasty scar from belly button to left shoulder, didn't cleave this servant in half. It's a deep wound, but a skill like Battle Continuation would keep him alive for some moments. As the saying goes, will this wounded beast prove to be even more dangerous?

"Tsk. That's some pretty tough skin you have, Berserker." Cirno says in amazement, still half-shocked that she didn't get a perfect kill with that blow. "Is that your Noble Phantasm?"

"Well deduced, Saber." Illya speaks up for her servant, as it is too mad to answer. "That blow might've killed a minor servant, but mine is a bit too strong to die from that. His God Hand: Twelve Labors gives him protection against all of his enemies' weak and puny attacks. That level you displayed was quite decent, you might even kill my Berserker once. Too bad that he doesn't die when he is killed, so I doubt you can bury him forever."

Those last words resonate with my soul, but only in an opposite phase. People die when they are killed, even if they are ghostly apparitions of the past. That's the way it is supposed to be! I look at my servant, who looks even cockier than before. She sneer at the fate given to her, to us, and laughs the enemy in the face.

"That's all?" She speaks in defiance to the current difference in power, unafraid of what to come. "Then all I need to do is hit your servant harder. Isn't that right, kid?"

"Can you, Saber?" The girl smilingly adds, doubting my servant's claims.

"Why don't I show you. My ultimate move. My Noble Phantasm!" Here it comes. The ultimate ability gained in her life as a soldier, a warrior, a swordswoman: "Limt Break! Super Ultimate Martial God Supreme Sl-ack!" And she clumsily fails the naming as she bites her own tongue in pain.

"My tooooongue! It 'urts!" Then why did you make it such an overly long name? Wouldn't something like multi-slash or omnislash be better? Letting my curiosity get the better of me I ask my servant this question.

"'cause t'is sounds more awesome!" She replies instantly. Turning to the enemy, she sees that Berserker didn't move an inch. "So, u'm… can I try again?" with an embarrassed expression she looks at the enemy, who does seem interested in Saber's Noble Phantasm. The girl waves the earlier failed attempt away, daring Cirno to make her move.

"Then 'ere I come again!" Healing her own tongue, or in this case disregarding the injury All swords are drawn into a single large greatsword, for CIrno is going to show her ultimate technique: "Limit Break! Super Ultimate Martial God Supreme Slash! Version: NINE!" The blade comes at Berserker with inhuman speed. I cannot trace my servant anymore. Neither can that girl. Not even Berserker can probably follow her anymore. Her speed left the realm of man. All I hear is the sound of Cirno's blades clashing with Berserkers body:

*Chink*

*Clang*

*Jangle*

No, this isn't right. This isn't the sound of metal ripping through flesh. It's metal on… metal? It can't be? Berserker is parry Cirno's ultimate attack?

*Klunk*

No, that can't be it. Berserker stands still, unmoving He isn't even trying to block or parry.

*Schlik*

*Clanck*

Berserker's master stands there, grinning. Did she foresee this? Did she see my servant failing against it?

*Zinng*

*Swash*

"Cirno!" I try to cry out to my servant, call out how pointless this is, but I realize that it will not matter. My servant is ready to deal the final finishing blow:

*Ziriik*

And it bounces off. Cinro looks at the… the thing in front of her in horror, unable to explain why her noble phantasm failed.

"What kind of monster are you, Berserker?" The sword still rests against the madman's chest, but it doesn't pierce through, even though there should be enough power behind it.

"Too bad, Saber, but Berserker can't be hurt by the same thing twice. One of your limit breaks, or ten, or a hundred; Not a single one will do damage to my servant.

Oh crap.

That means that the Saber form has become useless against this monster. We have to switch classes to survive!

"Cirno, turn into-"

"Now, Berserker!" Interrupted by the white-haired girl I hear her command, and directly the giant springs alive. Like a puppet he rises, grabbing my servant by the waist. Cirno screams to let her go, but his response is to slam her into the ground.

Followed by another slam… and a third. Then he throws my servant into the wall behind me, which almost breaks from the throw's sheer force.

No, this can't be the end. My body turns numb from the mere thought. Luckily it all flees away when I see Cirno rise up. Her clothing is torn and crumpled, and she has wounds all over. The blood dripping off her sword is her own, the crimson fluid flowing there from the wounds and arms. Resting on her sword she stares at the giant, still deviant of the difference in power.

"Not bad, Berserker." She tries to sound cocky, but such action fails spectacularly if you cough out blood at the same moment. "I guess I give you the title of second-strongest. You're good enough to stand second to the real strongest."

I cannot feel any lies from my servant. Does she really believe that that is true? While I doubt it, the enemies reject it completely:

"Too bad, miss strongest," The last word spat out as sarcastically as possible by that master, "but this is your end. Finish it, Berserker."

The madman roars loudly and charges Cirno. Three seconds until impact. Three seconds until Cirno's dead. I cannot accept this fate.

Two seconds. I run at Cirno. I will save her! I will stop this from happening!

One second. The giant raises his club. But Cirno will not die from it. I will not permit it. I will not allow it! Live, Cirno!

I push her out of the way, just before the giant crashes into me. The club hits me in the side, tearing out the stomach and most of the left lung. Blood splatters out as I fall on the concrete floor.

"Hah, that was good enough, Berserker. If he cannot survive that he isn't worth playing with." From the corners of my eyes I see Illya walking away, and Berserker changing into astral form. Good. Cirno is save.

Ah.. I think I'm going to lose consciousness. But that's okay. I saved someone. Now it's time for my inner healing factor to activate and rescue me from the brink…of…death…

Wait, healing factor is Avalon. No King Arthur as my servant means no Excalibur means no heals means I die.

Shit shit shit can't I do this o…ver…?

 **You died. BAD END.**

 _Magical Dojo is a strange hint corner.  
If you would like to finish this by yourself, then stop reading right now. What's below won't change.  
If you want to keep the characters images, then we recommend doing the same.  
But if you're still here, then here is some advice and a funny skit:_

Back at the dojo, our two heroines look at each other, the emerald-eyed one looking quite annoyed.

"Why did this go wrong, Marisa?" Arthuria asks to her sidekick with venom in her mouth, "This was the most Fate-like way to fight! So why is this the bad ending?"

"Well, that's exactly the problem." Marisa's point here is valid. The variables have changed. Saber and Assassin have been replaced, so it only makes sense for the story to take a different direction. "Tell me: Why did Shirou survive the first meeting with Berserker in the Fate route, even though his guts were split open by Berserker?"

"Be…cause he has Avalon in his body?"

"Correct, ze!" Marisa points out, setting it up as the start for the next question: "and why and when does Avolon work?"

"If…Excalibur, or in other word, I am around."

"Yep." Smugly Marisa points out the problem: You can only play it like Fate/Stay Night if all the characters are from Fate/Stay Night. But since there are changes in the line-up not everything goes as expected. "So that leads us to the solution of the problem those readers created. But first, Saber, look at your Shirou."

Saber does as asked, but then Marisa orders her to look at her. "And back at Shirou, and now back to me. Sadly, Shirou isn't alive like me." Pulling out her Mini-hakkeiro, she displays it in front of the camera. "But if he stopped using girly magical sheaths and switch to mini-hakkero's he could use the same magic like me. Look down, back up."

Suddenly the walls of the dojo fall away, displaying a large open lake. "Where are you? You're on a boat," In amazement Saber looks around her. Clearly this is a boat, and the seas they're on, the warm and humid temperature, the underwater sea life… did Marisa just teleport them to the Mediterranean? "with the woman your Shirou could use magic like." And for some reason, Marisa's clothing also changed. Gone are the witch hat, the apron, the black witch clothes; Now she wears a white chiton, an ancient Greek dress for women.

But Saber is more interested in the boat. No, this thing, it's not a normal boat. In fact, it's the legendary Argo, ship of Jason, transportation device of the Argonauts, crystallized into a Noble Phantasm! Where in heaven or hell did Marisa obtain it?

"What's in your hand?" Marisa charismatically asks, before wanting you to look back at her. "I have it: It's Captain Murasa, with two chapters of the fanfic you love." The girl that Marisa grabbed is struggling to get free, but quickly she is released from Marisa's grasp, whose hand is now filled with… glass shards? "Look again, the chapters are now diamonds!"

Out of the diamonds her mini-hakkero arises, seemingly out of nowhere. "Anything is possible when Shirou uses mini-hakkeros and doesn't rely on healing factor. I'm on Saber's horse. Ze ze Zee ze Zee ze zee Zeee!" Before Arthuria could even react to the fact that Marisa is sitting on her beloved horse Llamrei, or where she even got it from in the first place, Marisa jumps off the ship and uses the horse to sprint over the water, riding off into the sunset.

Neither of the duo left at the ship has any words for it, and only after half a minute can Saber utter the most basic of words: "What?". Eventually recovering from surprise the two ladies introduce themselves to each other, but still aren't able to solve their question: What just happened in the last couple of minutes?

Why they are here, how did Marisa get all this stuff, only the question "Who is the other person they're with?" is answered.

"So, miss Minamitsu, do you have any idea how long this will last? Because I'm afraid we're stuck on this ship for the rest of the route." Saber says with a worried face, and for good reason. Was her life thus far a lie? Did the Dojo never exist at all? Is Shirou actually real and not some spawn of internet memes?

Murasa walks away from Saber uninterested in her fears, and walks to the rudder and steering wheel. She is certain: just like the palanquin ship, so too can she steer this marvel of a ship. She shares this thought with Saber, who is glad that they won't float adrift now.

"And how about Marisa? Do you think she'll come back?"

"Probably. She'll be back by the next dojo… or ship, depending how you want to call it now." She starts to steer the ship, which causes it to vent slightly to the right. "So you just finish up this dojo, I'll go and steer this ship."

Arthuria takes the hint, and turns to the camera to give her final hint: "Shirou, Cirno! Your choice is admirable, but it isn't the right one in this situation. Only copy the original material if the original doesn't lead to any form of problems. And remember that while the original precedes all others, who has to say that the fake cannot beat the original? Try something new, a strategy unheard of in Type-Moon history! Now excuse me, as I'm going to change my outfit. I need to better fit in this route." And Saber walks away, leaving us with this helpful advice, hoping for a better future.

-Magical Dojo K01, end-

-Page K06 end-


	8. Page K08

**Page K05 C) Run away and use Ruler form**

-Page K08-

I'll play it safe for now. I won't risk the advantageous position Caster and us have created. That's the most important thing. "I'll run away to get help, Cirno. You use your Ruler form to hold them off in the meantime."

I turn around, away from the battlefields, but I can still see Cirno smirking. Or to be more precise, it became such a big smirk that it is now audible. "Sure, but you better be quick about it. Otherwise there won't be any butt left to kick." A powerful force radiates from Cirno, and I can feel that even Berserker is halting its tracks, wary of what is going on. As I run away I can hear Cirno giving a speech full of authority to the enemy servant:

"So, Berserker, tonight you face me of all people. Yes, I can feel your strength. In madness you have succeeded in rivaling someone like me, a feat unheard of in history. However! You have one major weakness: you are alone! A raging man, lonely fighting for his master. Let me show you the difference between you and me. Let me introduce you to my friends, my followers, my team! Meet the power of t…" I cannot hear Cirno's voice anymore, but I'm confident in her ability. So I do the only thing I can do for her:

Run. I have to go to Kuzuki, Caster and Assassin as quickly as possible. Going faster with each step. I will reach them in time. I have allies, so I can trust them I'm ten minutes away from friendly territory, but I can do it. I will make it in time!

Faster. I have to get there in time. My body starts hurting, but I have to continue. I have to go and reach them. Cirno will hold out. She will.

Quicker! My body is burning from within. Legs, torso, arms, head. All of it is in pain as I sprint at Olympic speeds. But that is not enough. I have to be…

…even faster! Reinforcing the body, a dangerous form of magecraft for a half-assed magus like me, with horrendous results if it goes wrong. But I don't care about failing. I reinforce my legs to move at speeds beyond human.

Faster!

Faster!

Faster!

To the speed of light and beyond!

I change the distance between me and the temple from ten minutes to four, and I'm already halfway there. My body is hurting from all the running, and my hand is going numb from pain. But even though both body and soul scream it out a moment of clarity occurs:

Why aren't I calling Caster on the phone?

Such an obvious solution, but I didn't even think about it when my head and body were filled with adrenalin. I pull the black obsidian rock from my pocket, slide on it to activate its power, and hope that Caster picks it up.

"Hello? Why are you calling me, boy?" It works. Caster is hearable from all the way on top of the mountain, and I can tell her about what is happening.

"Cirno and I have met Berserker and his master. Cirno is currently fighting against that thing, and I ran back to get reinforcements from you. The location of fighting is currently…"

"Spare your breath, boy. I've already figured out your location, along with that of the fight."

"Oh." Well, that will spare time. "So, can you come over to us now, Caster? We need your help."

"It's a shame, but that's of no use. You're already finished. It was nice meeting you, boy, but too bad you couldn't fulfill your dreams." With evil intention she speaks these words. I don't get it, what is she talking about?

"Caster, explain, I don't understa-"

My call with Caster is hindered by a single shot. The shot pierced my hand and the cellphone it was holding. I look at the weapon that destroyed the cellphone: A sword like bullet, made from a single magically enhanced wire. No, structural grasp tells me that it is made from a single hair. What is-pain pain painpainpain!

The pain from my hand finally reaches me in earnest, and I let out a large scream of pain. My hand's fingers are dangling loosely, nearly fully cut off by a single laceration in the right half of my palm.

I look at the perpetrator, and I see her standing haughtily. The girl again, Illyasviel as she calls herself, and the black giant behind her.

How did this happen? I can understand it if she was here alone, and Cirno is still fighting Berserker back in the strets. But why are they both here? What happened to Cirno?

"Cirno, come to me!" I try to use a command seal, but nothing happens. No Cirno. Where is she? Where's Cirno?

"Is that the name of your servant, onii-chan?" The girl speaks elegantly, but with a new sadistic streak. I stare at her, asking the important question:

"What happened to my servant, Illysviel? What happened to Cirno?!"

"She's dead, Shirou. She summoned an army to deal with my servant. But too bad, the power of numbers doesn't work against my servant, the truly strongest."

No.

Impossible.

Cirno… died?

How? Wasn't she the strongest? How can she lose this easily?

I try again. And Again. Multiple times I try to summon Cirno back here, back from wherever she is, but each try is as futile as the next.

"If you don't believe me, onii-chan, then simply look at your hand. See? No command seals? You're not a master anymore because your servant stopped existing."

I look at my hand, and see that the eight command seals I had left are now all gone, only a grey scar-like mark hinting that they ever existed. So that means that Cirno is dead. My mind breaks. Impossible. I… I failed. I tried to help her. I tried to help Caster. I tried to save the city. But I failed. I fall on my knees, my body not responding.

"Ah, don't worry, onii-chan. It's not over for you yet. I'm going to have looots of fun playing with you… I wonder what I shall do first to you…"

I do not care what happens to me. What I lived for… I couldn't do it. I am now a man with a failed purpose. I have nothing left. Truly, my Grail War is finished.

 **Bad end**

 _Magical Dojo is a strange hint corner.  
If you would like to finish this by yourself, then stop reading right now. What's below won't change.  
If you want to keep the characters images, then we recommend doing the same.  
But if you're still here, then here is some advice and a funny skit:_

The large Greek trireme is as empty as ever, with only our two familiar women on deck and Captain Murasa at the steering wheel. The two women solemnly look to the horizon, where in a very, very far away place Shirou is being tortured by Illya.

What is his fate? Will he become a doll? Or have his limbs ripped off and being transformed into a magical staff? Or will some other painful punishment take place, like having his head severed from his body and kept alive in excruciating pain for who knows how long?

"Well that failed quickly." The women on the left, known as Kirisame Marisa, complained. Still dressed in her ancient white chiton, she lets out a sigh of pity for the boy. "I expected them to last longer."

"It was bound to happen. Facing Berserker will open up tons of bad endings." The other women, Arthuria Pendragon, answered with noble words. Dressed in a black suit and bowler hat with a classy monocle for an accessory she looks absolutely stunning. "But Marisa, we have a job to do. Shirou has a bad end, so let's start our session."

"Yes yes…" With a shrug she stands straight, looking at a camera that stands at the side of the deck. "Hello, everyone! Welcome to Magical Dojo, ze! I'm here to make sure that that idiot of a fairy and her master eventually ends up at a good end, which you guys failed horribly at!"

"Correct. You even led Shirou to his current predicament. If I could I would Excaliblast you right now, but because of fourth wall limitations I'm afraid I cannot. My apologies, Shirou, I cannot avenge you."

"Ah, don't worry about it, Seiba. It ain't skin of our back. We just need to make sure they won't make this mistake again." Marisa swings her arm around the king, cheering up the sad knight from her depression.

"Yes, you are correct, Marisa." Arthuria says with a disturbing grin. "So let's discuss what went wrong." Turning fully serious she points to the problem: "Shirou! You ran away from battle! Didn't you learn from the VN that that almost always leads to death?! This is basically Tiger Dojo 2 all over again!"

"Objection!" Marisa shouts, pointing her pointer finger to the camera as a CAPCOM remix of her theme music starts to play in the background. "That's not the reason. There's a much bigger mistake made here!"

Arthuria looks shocked, unable to believe it. "Really? But where did Shirou fail then?"

"It's Cirno's fault. She picked the wrong class for fighting Berserker. If something like this: If Saber increases her power then Ruler multiplies the number of powers on their side. It's a weapon for fighting against multiple opponents, to overwhelm them through numbers. But against Berserker a single powerful blow is better than a plethora of weak attacks because of his Noble Phantasm God Hand."

"No, you're clearly in the wrong there, Marisa. This is karma for running away. You have not been long in the Nasuverse, so I understand that this is still new to you. Running away from battles instantly gets you killed. You must never run away. If I were to speak in mecha terms, then you must be a Kamina, not a Shinji! Do you understand, Shirou?"

"Except that the former dies and the latter survives. There's nothing wrong with running away when the time is right, but at least pick your classes wisely, Cirno!"

"I'm sorry to say that your knowledge is not infinite, magus. This time you are clearly in the wrong."

"Oh really, servant? Is it not someone like you who doesn't even understand the concept of dating? How can you be so sure that your knowledge is right this time?"

"I'm not given any useless information, unlike you. I expected more from someone who copies her weapons from others, but I guess you are not refined enough to be considered powerful."

The tension is gets higher with every word, until Marisa pulls out her hakkero while jumping ten feet back. "You call me weak? Well, how about we test it then?"

In response the Barrier of the Wind King disappears, showing the true form of the Sword of Promised Victory as Saber retreats the same distance. "I will honorably accept, and show you your wrongs… if you survive, Marisa." She adds that last one with a grin one bit too large, ready to kill her partner…

…who is equally ready to kill in return. "Surviving? I'm afraid you're gonna take a few lessons in it! MASTER…"

EKUSU…"

"There will be no fighting on my ship!" The captain suddenly jumps in the middle of the ship, startling both fighters. Before either can react Murasa has anchored out of commission, leaving her as the only conscious person on the ship.

Now that she is all alone she thinks of what she has to do to finish this dojo. Pickpocketing a few cheet sheets from the two victims she reads the advice to all viewers:

"lessee… everyone, this is your captain speakin'! I bring the following words of advice for all you readers: Don't run from battles, and don't use Cirno's Ruler class against Berserker. And not to forget, we have to give you Star Stamp K02. Congratulations! Unless you plan on getting more stamps I hope we'll never meet again. Bye!"

-Magical Dojo K02, end-

 **Status Screen Updated!**

-Page K08 end-


	9. Servant Status Screen

**Servant Status Screen:**

-Base Form-

Class: Classless  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: Cirno  
Sex: Female  
Height: 9/999999999999 AU  
Weight: 9^-9 LD*0.9 bags of cement  
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Strength: E  
Endurance: D  
Agility: D  
Magical Energy: C  
Luck: D  
Noble Phantasm: EX

 _Class skills:_

None

 _Personal skills:_

?: B

Bravery: B  
The ability to negate mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination. Not usable when under the influence of mad enhancement.

Mana Burst (Ice): B+  
A version of mana burst that infuses attacks with magical energy that imparts an ice effect. In Cirno's case chilling ice becomes magical energy that dwells in the user and she can unleash it onto the surroundings. Usually active in a passive mode, it can also be used more actively to unleash bursts of ice called Danmaku.

Mental Disorder: A  
The mind has fallen ill. It is not the mad enhancement Berserkers usually possess. She does not understand the pain or death of others, the difference in magnitude of her actions, or fully understands the mood of her surroundings. However, it also grants mental super armor.

 _Noble Phantasms:_

[The Many Parallel Myths: Nine Forms of the Strongest]  
Rank: EX  
Type: transformation-type Noble Phantasm  
Range: 1  
Maximum number of targets: 1 (self)

Cirno's Noble Phantasm, create from the many myths, legends and memes surrounding her. As Touhou has become well-known mainly due to the work of its fanbase it is only fitting that a Touhou servant will have its powers based on the work of her fans.

In Cirno's case this takes form as the personifications of some of the stories surrounding her. She starts classless, in her weakest and least prana-consuming form. From here she can change into one of her stronger forms, but only if the conditions for that form are fulfilled. Changing into another form without re-accessing base form is possible, but the requirements for the new form still need to be fulfilled.

 _Restrictions:_

none

-First Form-

Class: Saber  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: ?  
Sex: Female  
Height: 9/999999999999 AU + 0.009 m  
Weight: 9^-9 LD*0.9 bags of cement  
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Strength: A+  
Endurance: A  
Agility: B  
Magical Energy: C  
Luck: C  
Noble Phantasm: ?

 _Class Skills:_

Magic Resistance: B  
Protection against magic and magecraft. Instead of rejecting the magical energy spells will be canceled altogether. Grants full protection against spells of three verses or lower, and even High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals will have trouble affecting Saber.

Riding: B  
The expertise to ride animals and vehicles. Most Vehicles can be handled with above average skill. However, cannot ride the likes of Phantasm Races.

 _Personal Skills:_

?: C

Bravery: A+  
The ability to negate mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination. Not usable when under the influence of mad enhancement. Bonus effect of increased melee damage.

?: B

Mana Burst (Ice): C+  
A version of mana burst that infuses attacks with magical energy that imparts an ice effect. In Cirno's case chilling ice becomes magical energy that dwells in the user's swords and she can unleash it onto the surroundings. Usually active, but at the cost of increased prana consumption rate the power and range of the ice effect can be increased.

 _Noble Phantasms:_

[Limit Break: Super Ultimate War God Supreme Slash Version 9]  
Rank: B+  
Type: Anti-Unit  
Range: 2-5  
Maximum number of targets: 1

A skill of the greatest Ex-SHINRA soldier, Cirnoud Strife! Just kidding, it's Advent Cirno. She wields the powerful Bastard Cirno Sword in battle, and utilizes said sword in battle. It a large and thick greatsword tht consists out of 6 other swords, each wielded by Cirno to its utmost limit. These blades are the Winner sword, the Watermelon Sword, the dual Chocolate Edges and the two Wafer Blades. Together they allow for her strongest attack, her limit break, which due to a ridiculously long name will now for the rest of this explanation be shortened to Omnislash.

Her Omnislash v9 is a 9 hit combo at godspeed, eachhit dealing critical damage. Though it has less hits then Omnislash v5, it deals more damage because each slash deals two times the damage of a regular hit instead of 0.75 times. However, the damage cap of 9999 damage per hit still stands, so doesn't that make Omnislash v5 better in some situations?

 _Restrictions:_

All of the following conditions must have been met:  
1) Saber must have someone to protect.  
2) There must be an enemy servant nearby.  
3) The enemy servant wants to harm the one Saber wants to protect.

-Second Form-

?

-Third Form-

Class: Caster  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: ?  
Sex: Female  
Height: 0.09*9 + 0.09*9 cm  
Weight: 0.9999 faggots  
Alignment: Neutral Good

Strength: D  
Endurance: B  
Agility: A  
Magical Energy: A+  
Luck: C+  
Noble Phantasm: ?

 _Class Skills:_

Item Construction: C+  
The skill to manufacture magical items. In Cirno's case her items can only reach the levels of what is reachable with current day science, but she can go beyond that if the item is cold or ice-related, for example, she can magically recreate cold fusion or the like.

Territory Construction: B  
The skill to build a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a magus. Creation of a Workshop becomes possible.

 _Personal Skills:_

High Speed Spellcard Words: B  
The power to activate thaumathurgy without the use of magic circuits. By using spellcards Cirno can use the prana in the air to forgo most of the incantation. Up to magecraft with ten arias can be cast at the speed of single action spells.

Mana Burst (Ice): EX  
A version of mana burst that infuses attacks with magical energy that imparts an ice effect. In Cirno's case chilling ice becomes magical energy that dwells in the user and she can unleash it onto the surroundings. Has gone to levels beyond mere manipulation of Ice. Can be considered equal to a low-ranked Noble Phantasm in its own right.

Protection of the Fairies: A  
A blessing from fairies. Increases one's luck on the battlefield in dangerous situations. However, activation is limited to battlefields, does not work in dangerous situations outside of battlefields.

Sheer Force: B  
Magic is power, da ze! Ability to defeat opponents by sheer power alone. Perform Luck check upon hitting the enemy. A successful roll means that the target's defenses will be halved for that hit.

 _Noble Phantasms:_

?

 _Restrictions:_

1) Must have spend 9 or more successive hours in base form before turning into Caster form.  
2) ?

-Fourth Form-

Class: Berserker  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: ?  
Sex: ?  
Height: ?  
Weight: ?  
Alignment: ?

Strength: ?  
Endurance: ?  
Agility: ?  
Magical Energy: ?  
Luck: ?  
Noble Phantasm: ?

 _Class Skills:_

Mad Enhancement: B-  
Raises basic parameters in exchange of hindering mental capacities. In some cases also seals away personal skills. Rank-Up for all parameters, but most of her sanity, however little she had to begin with, is taken away

 _Personal Skills:_

?: A

?: B+

?: C

 _Noble Phantasms:_

?

 _Restrictions:_

?

-Fifth Form-

Class: Ruler  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: ?  
Sex: ?  
Height: ?  
Weight: ?  
Alignment: ?

Strength: ?  
Endurance: ?  
Agility: ?  
Magical Energy: ?  
Luck: ?  
Noble Phantasm: ?

 _Class Skills:_

God's Resolution: E+  
A privilege of the Ruler class, this skill gives the servant extra command seals for all the servants that are in the war. Due to being summoned as a multi-class servant with a desire for the Grail this skill is greatly reduced in effectiveness. The master of Ruler will get 1 bonus command seal for every enemy servant in the Grail War, but a single command seal will not be as strong when compared to that of other masters.

Magic Resistance: C  
Protection against magical effect. Instead of rejecting the magical energy spells will be canceled altogether. Grants full protection against spells of two verses or lower, but is still affected by High-Thaumaturgy and Great Rituals. Resistance would've been higher if summoned as a normal Ruler.

True Name Discernment: -  
Status information such as true identity, parameters, skills and Noble Phantasms are instantly revealed upon encountering a servant. Due to the special conditions of her summoning Ruler cannot use this skill.

 _Personal Skills:_

?: B

?: B

Mana Burst (Ice): B+  
A version of mana burst that infuses attacks with magical energy that imparts an ice effect. In Cirno's case chilling ice becomes magical energy that dwells in the user and can unleash it onto the surroundings. Usually active in a passive mode, it can also be used actively to unleash bursts of ice called Danmaku.

?: A

 _Noble Phantasms:_

?

 _Restrictions:_

Shirou must run away?

-Sixth Form-

?

-Seventh Form-

Class: Scholar  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: Perfect Mathematician Cirno  
Sex: Female  
Height: 9/999999999999 AU = 135 cm  
Weight: 9^-9 LD*0.9 bags of cement = 37.7 kg  
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Strength: 9  
Endurance: 9  
Agility: 9  
Magical Energy: 9  
Luck: 9  
Noble Phantasm: ?

 _Class Skills:_

Gift of Divine Wisdom: B-  
An inhuman gift of intelligence. All non-unique skills can be learned, given enough time. Learning of a new skill will take around five hours, but newly learned skills will disappear upon changing class.

Teachings of the Wise: A  
Ability to teach other people knowledge at greatly increased rate. Learning stuff that would normally take hours can be completed in minutes. It is possible to teach people skills that the servant knows too, given enough time.

 _Personal Skills:_

?: N/A

?: C-

?: EX

 _Noble Phantasms:_

?

 _Restrictions:_

Must be used for enlightening a wiser person than Scholar's classless form in a subject of Scholar's choice.

-Eight Form-

Class: Inverter  
Master: Emiya Shirou  
True Name: ?  
Sex: ?  
Height: ?  
Weight: ?  
Alignment: ?

Strength: ?  
Endurance: ?  
Agility: ?  
Magical Energy: ?  
Luck: ?  
Noble Phantasm: ?

 _Class Skills:_

Battle Inversion: C  
The ability to come back from an disadvantageous position. Dealt damage increases the larger the difference between current and maximum hit points is. Increase in damage reaches a maximum of 1.5 times the normal output if Cirno has only 1 hit point left.

Eye of the mind (True): B  
Heightened capacity for observation. Capable of calmly analyzing the battlefield even when in danger and deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. Greatly improved chance at victory even if there's only a 0.9% chance of winning.

 _Personal Skills:_

?: A

?: B+

?: -

 _Noble Phantasms:_

?

 _Restrictions:_

Opponent must resist ice-elemental attacks.

-Ninth Form-

?


	10. Credits

**-Archievements-**

 **Character relation points:  
** Cirno Relation Points: 0  
Rin Relation Points: 0  
Sakura Relation Points: 2  
Illya Relation Points: 0  
Lancer Relation Points: 0  
Archer Relation Points: 0  
Rider Relation Points: 0  
Caster Relation Points: -1  
Assassin Relation Points: 1  
?1? Relation Points: 0  
Gilgamesh Relation Points: 0  
?2? Relation Points: 2  
Taiga Relation Points: 0  
Shinji Relation Points: 0  
Kotomine Relationship points: 0  
?3? Relation Points: 0  
ZUN Relation Points: 0

 **Good Ends Reached:** 0/50

 **Bad Ends Reached:** 2/many  
K01: Nothing stays the same: Death to Original Naming  
K02: Flight of the Ruler: Element-OverLord

 **Total Pages unlocked:** 8

 **Servant status screen:** 31% Complete

 **-Credits-**

 **Beta-readers:  
Beta-Reader -e^π*sqrt(-1): position still open  
Beta reader π: Also still open  
Beta Reader 9: Also still open**

 **New Choices Unlockers:  
** 1: Death to Original Naming; 5 new options  
2: Dark0w1; 4 new options  
3: WinkinsLite, Kweh Viola, Flagarach; 3 new options

 **Bad Ending Unlockers:  
** 1: Element-Overlord, Death to Original Naming; 1 bad end

 **Good Ending Unlockers:  
** -

 **Unlockers per page:  
** Page 1: Flagarach  
Page 2: ?  
Page 3: ?  
Page 4: WinkinsLite  
Page 5 to 49: ?  
Page 50: Kweh Viola  
Page 51 to 62: ?  
Page 63: Death to Original Naming  
Page 64 to 66: ?  
Page K01: Dark0w1  
Page K02 to K04: ?  
Page K05: Death to Original Naming  
Page K06: Death to Original Naming  
Page K07: ?  
Page K08: Element-OverLord


End file.
